REESE   LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

j 

Deceived      APR  24  1893 
••Accessions.  TVo.S"'  25^  .*      ;  . 


COAL  MINING. 


COAL  MINING 


DESCRIBED  AND  ILLUSTRATED. 


BY 


THOMAS   H.   WALTON, 


MINING    ENKIXEKR. 


ILLUSTRATED    BY   TWENTY- FOUR    LARGE   AND   ELABORATE   PLATES 

AFTER    ACTUAL  WORKINGS    AND    APPARATUS,  AND 

SEVERAL   WOOD    ENGRAVINGS. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

HENRY   CAREY   BAIRD  &   CO., 

INDUSTRIAL  PUBLISHERS,  BOOKSELLERS,  AND  IMPORTERS, 
810  WALNUT  STREET. 

LONDON : 
SAMPSON   LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE   &    RIVINGTON, 

CROWN  BUILDINGS,  188  FLEET  STRKET. 
1885. 


COPYRIUHT   BY 

THOMAS   II.    WALTON, 

1884. 


'7 


COLUNS,    J'KISTEK. 


•\ 


TO    MY    ESTEEMED    FRIEND, 

J.    WARREN   COULSTON,   ESQ., 

OF    THE    PHILADELPHIA    BAB, 
THIS   VOLUME    IS 

y  flfdiratrd. 


•Jl 


PREFACE. 


THE  Almighty  in  His  great  bounty  has  provided  for  all  our  wants  in  endless  abundance 
and  variety.  In  some  parts  of  the  Tropics,  when  the  rainy  seasons  come  to  moisten  the 
ground  which  has  been  baked  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  you  can  see  the  vegetation  thrust  out  of 
it  by  a  powerful  influence.  The  transformation  which  takes  place  is  truly  magical.  Within 
a  few  weeks,  the  ground  that  was  bare  supports  masses  of  vegetable  matter  so  high  and  so 
rank  as  to  forbid  one's  passage  through  them.  Year  succeeds  year  and  each  contributes  its 
layer  of  vegetation,  which  is  generously  supplied  with  carbon,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen, 
and  traces  of  other  important  ingredients  which  combine  to  form  those  wonderful  products 
of  nature. 

But,  alas!  after  the  rains  cease  to  moisten  the  earth,  the  sun  shines  both-  through  the 
thirsty  atmosphere  and  abstracts  the  moisture  from  the  vegetation  which  lias  been  so 
generously  nourished  by  it.  In  a  short  time  only  a  portion  of  the  whole  remains ;  the 
bulk  of  the  ingredients  passes  back  into  the  winds  again,  and  is  carried  by  them  to  other 
parts  of  the  globe  perhaps  to  make  component  parts  in  the  construction  of  other  vegetable 
or  animal  organisms. 

But  all  the  species  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  not  so  frail  in  nature.  Where  the 
ground  is  liberally  supplied  with  moisture  from  subterranean  sources,  the  huge  trunks  of 
trees  spread  their  branches  into  the  air,  and  those  branches  carry  their  foliage  so  compactly 
as  to  defy  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  forbid  its  stealing  the  moisture  from  the  ground  which 
is  nourishing  the  roots.  In  this  case  the  vegetable  accumulations  augment,  and  continue 
to  do  so  year  after  year  as  long  as  they  live.  A  step  farther  on — a  geological  step,  which 
is  in  all  cases  a  long  stride — we  find  the  vegetable  masses  dead  and  buried  deeply  in  the 
earth,  imbedded  in  their  hard  rocky  graves !  Such  in  fact  are  our  coal  seams. 

These  vegetable  preservations  of  the  past  are  handed  down  to  us  in  the  shape  of  fuel  ; 
and  after  we  use  them  as  such,  the  bulk  of  the  ingredients  which  have  been  held  prisoners 
for  ages,  is  again  set  at  liberty  and  takes  its  place  in  the  air  ready  for  a  new  commjsnce- 
ment.  After  so  much  pains  have  been  taken  in  the  formation  of  these  coal  seams,  it  is 
wantonness  to  waste  their  contents  by  bad  mining  operations. 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  point  out  the  present  modes  of  taking  out  the  coal 
contained  in  coal  seams,  as  practised  in  England  and  the  United  States. 

(  vii ) 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

To  extract  coal  from  scams  lying  on  low  inclinations  has  been  very  successfully 
practised  in  the  older  mining  countries.  In  some  of  the  provinces  of  France,  where  the 
coal  seams  incline  upwards  of  70°,  and  which  are  comparatively  thick,  much  difficulty 
was  formerly  experienced  in  attempts  made  to  mine  out  the  coal  entirely.  Galleries  driven 
into  the  coal  seams  horizontally,  with  pillars  of  certain  widths  left  between  them,  resulted 
in  much  of  the  coal  being  lost,  after  it  was  detached  from  the  pillars.  It  was  then  often 
buried  by  the  rocks  which  caved  in  near  the  ends  of  these  pillars.  This  occasioned  a 
change  to  the  present  system  of  working  by  remblais,  which  seems  to  be  a  plan  well 
adapted  to  the  taking  out  of  the  coal  of  highly  inclined  coal  seams. 

Ventilation  of  coal  mines  is  treated  in  the  following  pages  only  in  the  most  practical 
manner.  To  comprehend  the  fine  points  connected  with  mine  ventilation  on  an  extensive 
scale,  an  accurate  knowledge  of  pneumatics  with  much  practical  experience  is  absolutely 
necessary. 

Absurdities  connected  with  this  important  subject  have  floated  into  the  works  of  very 
eminent  writers,  and  it  will  not  be  an  easy  task  to  eradicate  them. 

The  chief  difficulties  in  the  way  of  practical  ventilation  of  mines  seem  to  consist  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  air-passages  of  sufficient  size  free  from  obstructions,  and  in  the 
resistance  met  with  by  air-currents  moving  with  high  velocities. 

Trusting  that  the  succeeding  pages  will  be  found  of  use  to  the  student  of  coal  mining 
and  to  the  operators  of  coal  mines  and  the  owners  of  coal  lands,  and  that  they  may  be  of 
interest  to  the  general  reader  as  well,  the  author  passes  them  over  to  the  public  with  a 
consciousness  of  having  thus  done  something  towards  performing  his  duty  towards  his 
fellow  man. 


PHILADELPHIA,  December  15,  1S84. 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION   I. 

GENERAL  INFORMATION  CONCERNING  COAL  MINES  AND  COAL  MINERS,  WITH  DESCRIPTION  OF  LONG 
WALL  AS  WORKED  IN  HORIZONTAL  SEAMS  OF  COAL  IN  ENGLAND  AND  IN  FRANCE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

EXPLOSION  AT  SPRING  WELL  COLLIERY.     MEANS  TO  BE  USED  AS  SAFEGUARDS  AGAINST  ACCIDENTS. 

PAGE 

Personal  Recollections  of  an  Explosion  at  Springwell  Colliery  .......         9 

Improvements  introduced  at  Coal  Mines  as  a  Safeguard  against  Accidents  ;  Practical  details      .       12 

CHAPTER  II. 

COAL-DUST  AND  COAL-GAS  IN  THE  AIR  FORMING  A  DANGEROUS  MIXTURE. 

Large  quantities  of  gas  developed  in  Coal  Mining ;  What  an  explosive  atmosphere  may  be  com- 
posed of;  Coal-dust  finely  pulverized  disseminated  through  the  air,  a  dangerous  constituent; 
Mode  of  working  thick  beds  of  Anthracite  which  lie  on  a  high  inclination  ...  14 

CHAPTER  III. 

MARSH  GAS,  AN  EXPERIMENT.     THE  EFFECT  OF  A  BRATTICE  IN  AN  OPENING  SCHUTE. 
Marsh  Gas  identical  with  the  Carburetted  Hydrogen  of  a  Coal  Mine  ;  Incidents  connected  with 

an  experiment  with  this  Gas      ............       17 

How  Marsh  Gas  may  be  obtained  for  experimental  purposes ;  An  incident  illustrating  prejudices 

among  Miners;  A  Colliery  near  Ashland,  Pa.    ...  .....       10 

Fan  Boys  and  their  Work  ;  Dispensing  with  Fan  Boys  in  getting  rid  of  Gas       ....       20 

The  use  of  a  piece  of  Canvas  and  a  Brattice  in  Ventilation        .......       21 

CHAPTER  IV. 

IMPROVEMENTS  OF  MINING  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  AND  WELSH  MINES.     COAL  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

HETTON  COLLIERY. 

Mining  in  the  Lancashire  District,  England ;  Improvements  introduced  from  the  North       .          .       24 
System  of  Organization  of  Labor  at  the  Helton  Collieries  in  the  North  of  England    ...       25 
Effects  of  the  introduction  of  this  System  into  Lancashire  and  Wales         .....       26 

Details  of  this  System  as  adopted  in  Lancashire         .........       27 

Principles  which  should  govern  a  System  of  Ventilation ;  Necessity  of  recognizing  a  relation 

between  the  amount  of  Coal  Mined  and  the  amount  of  Air  required  in  Ventilation        .        -i       28 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THICK  COAL  SEAMS WORKING  OUT  COAL  IN  FRANCE  BY  REMBLA1S — IN  ENGLAND  BY  LONG  WALL. 

SECTION   II. 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  MINING  OUT  COAL  BY  WHAT  IS  TERMED  THE   BOARD  AND  PILLAR  SYSTEM. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

SHAFT  THROUGH  ENGLISH  COAL  MEASURES — WINDING  IN  SHAFT — ENGINE  PLANE — HORSE  ROADS. 

PAGE 

Board  and  Pillar  System  as  practised  in  the  Hutton  Seam  in  the  New  Castle,  England,  Coal 

Field;  Description  of  the  Vein  and  the  Works  .          .          .          .          .          .         .         .       33 

CHAPTER  VII. 

DISTRICT  AND  PANEL  WORKINGS — BOARDS  AND  ENDS  OF  COAI WORKING  LEVELS — 

DISTRICT  DETAILS. 

Description  of  a  Plate  illustrating  an  Overman's  Tracing;  Description  of  a  Plate  illustrating 

Plan  of  Board  and  Pillar  Whole  Coal  Workings  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  36 

The  Board  and  Pillar  or  Board  and  Wall  System,  one  of  the  most  popular  methods  of  Mining; 
Origin  of  these  Terms  and  their  relation  to  the  Cleavage  of  the  coal ;  Descriptive  details  of 
this  System  .  .  .  ..'.'.  .  .  .  '.  .  .  ...  37 

The  Air-crossing  and  the  General  System  of  Ventilation  of  Coal  Mines  by  Splitting  the  main 

current  of  Air,  as  illustrated  by  a  Drawing  .  .  .  .  .  .  '.  .  .39 

The  Regulator  in  Ventilation,  with  a  Description  of  its  Mode  of  Operation         t         .         .       •  .       40 

On  ascertaining  the  quantity  of  Gas  in  the  Air  and  the  Tests  used  for  that  purpose  :  Names  of 

the  places  in  the  District  as  illustrated  in  the  Plan  of  Board  and  Pillar  Whole  Coal  Workings  41 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  DEPUTY'S  EXPERIENCE — DETAILS  IN  WORKING  AND  VENTILATING  A  DISTRICT. 

The  Deputy  ;  An  interview  with  him  ;  His  views  on  the  subject  of  Ventilation  .         .          .       42 

Anemometer;  Practical  methods  of  estimating  the  condition  of  the  Air-current  in  a  Mine  .       43 

The  use  of  the  Water  Gauge    .............       45 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PUTTER. 

The  Putter  and  his  Duties 47 

The  Blackboard,  showing  the  Miners'  places,  the  number  of  Wagons  of  Coal  to  be  cut  in  each 

place,  and  the  Work  of  the  Putters    .          .          .          .          .         .          .         .          .         .         .  48 

Accidents  to  the  Putters  .          ..-.-..         ....          .          .          .          .         .                   .  49 

Drawing  the  Cavils  in  order  to  determine  the  Stations  of  the  Putters           .         .         .          .      •  •.  50 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  HEWER  AND  HIS  WORK. 

GR 

The  Coal  Miner  Nicking  his  Jud       .         ...         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .54 

The  Headways         ...............       55 

The  requirements  demanded  of  the  Miner  in  the  New  Castle  Coal  Field ;  The  work  of  the 

Deputy  in  that  Coal  Field .         .         .         .         .         .56 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    OVERMAN — SELF-ACTING  INCLINE  PLANE. 

The  Overman,  the  responsibility  of  his  Position  and  his  Duties ;  The  Master-waste  Man  and  the 

Master  Shifter  and  their  Duties ;  An  interview  with  the  Overman      .....       58 
The  Incline  Bank    ...............       61 

CHAPTER  XII. 
"  BROKEN  COAL"  WORKED. 

The  various  methods  of  taking  out  Pillars  of  Coal ;  The  Miner's  first  step ;  The  Trapper  and  his 

Duties  ;  Air-doors  ;  The  Regulator  and  Air-crossing  as  a  Substitute  for  Air-doors         .         .       63 
Working  the  "  Whole  Coal" ;  The  Tramway  used  in  Durham  and  Northumberland     ...       64 
Blackboard  showing  the  number  of  Tubs  to  each  Jud  and  the  Sheaths  or  Ranks  of  Putters         .       65 
Explanations  by  the  Overman  concerning  the  working  off  of  the  Juds,  including  the  dimensions 
of  the  Pillars  of  a  District,  the  time  required  to  work  off  a  Jud,  the  yield  of  Coal  from  a 
District  working  off  the  Broken  Coal  and  the  Crush  of  the  Roof  .    •  .         .66 

The  Drawing  out  of  the  Props  .         .          .         ._-.-..         .         .         .         .         .  .    67 

Fall  of  the  Roof;  The  Deputies  employed  in  a  District      ........       68 

The  Wagon-way  man  ;  Skelping  the  Coal ;  The  use  of  the  Safety  Lamp  ;  The  yield  of  Gas ; 
Keeping  the  Air  safe  from  admixtures  of  Dust ;  Effect  of  Gas  from  an  upper  or  lower  Coal 
Seam  forcing  its  way  into  the  Goaf  of  a  working  Mine  .  .  .  .  .._...  69 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
DETAILS  OF  BROKEN  WORKINGS. 

Method  of  working  out  the  Pillars,  when  the  Dip  is  great  ;  Dangers  of  Explosions  in  following 

up  the  workings  in  the  Whole  Coal  by  workings  in  the  "Broken"  .....  71 

Effect  of  a  Goaf  behind  us,  advancing  and  extending  itself;  The  Long  Wall  System  of  Mining 

Coal -......, 72 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
REMARKS  AND  COMPARISONS. 

Chief  merit  of  the  Plan  of  working  shown  in  which  the  "  Broken"  District  is  worked  simultane- 
ously with  a  whole  District  which  it  follows  at  what  is  judged  a  safe  distance  ;  Difficulty  of 
Ventilating  a  Goaf ;  Creeping  down  of  the  Roof  .  .  .  '  ~.  '.  .  ".  .73 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Respective  advantages,  under  different  circumstances,  of  the  Board  and  Pillar  and  the  Long  Wall 

Systems  of  Mining  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  *-° .  74 

Mining  in  America;  Advantages  of  taking  out  Pillars  by  working  back  in  the  direction  of  the 

Levels  beginning  at  the  Dip,  or  with  those  Levels  driven  on  the  lowest  part  of  the  boundary  75 

Splitting  the  Pillars ;  Condition  in  which  the  Pillars  and  Excavations  surrounding  them  are 
generally  found  ;  Metal  Ridge  or  Rig  ;  Tunnelling  through  the  Metal  Rigs  ;  Source  of 
trouble  and  expense  of  these  Rigs,  and  manner  of  working  through  them  ....  76 

Closing  up  of  the  Board-rooms  in  working  forward  toward  the  boundary  of  the  Mines          .         .       77 

CHAPTER  XV. 

RE-WORKING  OF  OLD  MINES,  "  METAL  RIGS,"  AND  OLD  COAL  PILLARS. 
The  mode  of  opening  work  through  old  Board-rooms  closed  up  by  Ridges,  lifted  from  the  Bottom 

Slate ;  Practical  details      .............       78 

Driving  Headways  in  the  Whole  Coal       ...........       79 

Modification  of  Board  and  Pillar  System  still  in  general  use  in  Lancashire,  England  ...       80 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
GENERAL  REMARKS. 

The  Overman's  Cabin  ;  Familiar  chat  with  the  Overman  concerning  the  Men  and  the  Mines  of 
the  Newcastle  Coal  Fields ;  Foundation  of  Railways  here  laid ;  Some  of  the  older  Mining 
appliances          ...............       81 

Misfortunes  of  the  past  from  a  want  of  knowledge  of  Gases  in  the  Mines    .         ...-•.          .       82 

Terrible  Explosions  in  the  past  history  of  Mining  ;  Little  knowledge  of  the  means  of  Ventilation  ; 

Improvements  of  Spedding  and  Buddie  in  Ventilation         .......       83 

Advances  in  Mining  at  the  present  time ;  The  Putter  and  his  work    .          .          .          .  84 

The  "  Calling  Course"     .      .   .        ., .85 

The  duties  of  the  Caller i-'      .         .         .. '      .         .        -.         .         .       86 

The  Spare  Hoisting  Shaft ".          .          .          .87 

The  interior  of  a  Board-room,  manner  of  Branching  of  the  Road  into  it,  and  Mode  of  Propping 

up  a  Slate  or  Shaly  Roof   .         .         .         .;_..'••..         .         .         .         .         .         .         .88 


SECTION   III. 

HOW  COAL  IS  TAKEN  FROM  THE  HIGHLY  INCLINING  COAL  VEINS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

TOPOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES — CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MINES. 

Description  of  an  extensive  Coal  Mine  and  its  surroundings,  in  Schuylkill  County,  Pa.       .          .  89 
View  in  the  Gap  or  Ravine  Cutting  through  a  mountain  in  this  locality ;  Interviews  with  Mine 

Bosses  in  an  attempt  to  find  employment    ..........  90 

Gangway  Timbers  illustrated '.         ...  91 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COAL  FORMATIONS DEPOSITS — UPHEAVALS. 

PAGE 

The  nature  of  Coal  Strata  examined          .         . 98 

Characteristics  of  Coal  Veins  in  Schuylkill  County,  Pennsylvania      ......       99 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
MINING  OF  COAL — MINERS'  TOOLS — STARTING  THE  SCHUTES — DRILLING  AND  BLASTING. 

The  Miner's  Outfit ;  The  Mouth  of  the  Drift;  The  Water  Course  in  a  Mine;  Lagging  and  Loose 

Packing  ;  A  Timbered  and  Lagged  Gangway     .........     102 

A  Plan  of  the  Coal  Mines  as  they  are  worked  in  the  Thick  Coal  Seams  of  the  United  States ; 

Mines  in  the  United  States  leased  by  the  Ton  and  not  by  the  Acre,  as  in  other  countries ; 

Disadvantages  of  this  System;  Immense  destruction  and  waste  of  Coal  ....  103 
A  Schute  and  the  manner  of  Driving  it ;  The  manner  of  connecting  together  the  main  Gangway 

and  the  Breast-way,  and  other  details  of  Mining  ........  104 

The  "  Starter"  at  work  ;  The  Battery  and  the  Battery  Collar 105 

A  Schute  shown  "  blocked  up"  at  the  Battery  ;  The  Travelling  Road  in  a  Mine  ;  "  Starting"  a 

Battery  ;    Description  of  a  set  of  tools  used  to  Mine  Coal   in  the  Breasts  of  the  highly 

inclined  Coal  Beds  of  Pennsylvania  ;  The  Drill ;  The  Needle 106 

The  Scraper;  The  mode  of  inserting  the  charge  of  powder  in  Blasting  Coal  ....  107 

The  Squib 108 

The  style  of  Pick  used  in  the  Anthracite  Coal  region  ;  The  steel  Sledge  and  the  steel  Wedge ; 

Drilling 109 

The  Loader  and  the  Driver  and  the  Boss  Loader 110 

CHAPTER  XX. 
DRIVING  .A  BREAST — COST  OF  COAL — MANWAY  AND  HEADING — BLOWING  DOWN  TOP  COAL. 

An  Air-door ;   Mode  of  Timbering  the  Manways  and   Breast-rooms,  and  of  connecting  them 

together,  by  means  of  Headways  driven  through  the  Pillars,  with  other  details  .  .  .113 
Breast  in  the  Mammoth  Vein  illustrated  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .115 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
VENTILATION — DRAINAGE  OF  WATER-LEVEL — GANGWAY  IN  BOTTOM  ROCK. 

Ventilation  details ;  The  pressure  of  the  Atmosphere          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .120 

Practical  discussions          ..............     121 

Every  Block  of  Coal  broken  from  a  working  place  liberates  a  certain  amount  of  Gas  .         .         .122 
How  a  fiery  Colliery  was  cured  of  its  fiery  character  .         ........     123 

The  Comparative  merits  of  placing  the  Gutters  for  Drainage  of  Mines  in  the  Coal  and  in  the 

Bottom  Rock  discussed  and  illustrated        ..........     128 

Driving  the  whole  Gangway  into  the  Bottom  Rock  and  its  advantages  illustrated         .         .          .     130 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
EXAMINATION  OF  BREASTS — MEASURING  OF  WORK — PARLEYS  WITH  THE  MINERS. 

PAGE 

Systematic  Ventilation  ;  Formation  of  the  Stoppings  of  the  Headings         .....     134 

Details  of  Ventilation ;  Tracing  out  the  Air-current  .         .         .         ...         .         .         .     135 

Conversations  with  the  Miners          .         .         .         .         .         .         ...         .         .         .         .     136 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS,  WITH  A  COMPARISON  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  MINING. 

The  systems  of  "  Long  Wall"  and  "  Board"  and  "  Pillar"  Mining  described  and  compared  .  142 

The  men  and  boys  who  work  the  Mines,  and  the  credit  which  is  due  to  them       .          .         .         .  144 

Ventilation,  and  its  relation  to  the  amount  of  Coal  Mined  in  a  given  time  ;  Practical  details  of 

Mining      .          .         .          .         .          .          .         .          .         .         .  :.  .         .          .         ,  145 

Mines  having  u  Dip  of  about  45°  ;  Mining  in  Pennsylvania  ;  Loss  of  Coal  in  the  system  of  Mining  14G 

SECTION   IV. 

TlIE  VENTILATING  FAN — UNDERGROUND  FIRES ELLEN  WOOD  COLLIERY, 

MAHANOY  COAL  BASIN,  PENNA. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  VENTILATING  FAN — HOW  IT  SHOULD  BE  CONSTRUCTED  AND  ARRANGED — 
PRINCIPLES  OF  ITS  ACTION  DESCRIBED. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

UNDERGROUND  FIRES  AND  METHODS  OF  EXTINGUISHING  THEM. 

•  '     \ 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COAL  VEINS  WORKED  AT  ELLENWOOD  COLLIERY,  SITUATED  IN  THE  SOUTH- 
EASTERN BRANCH  OF  THE  MAHANOY  COAL  BASIN,  GIVEN  TO  SHOW  THE  GREAT  NATURAL  RESOURCES 
OF  THE  ANTHRACITE  COAL  FIELDS. 

INDEX    .         .  171 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


I.  Overman's  Tracing,  showing  a  plan  of  working  by  Board  and  Pillar,  and  Ventilating 
by  Splits,  and  especially  adapted  for  working  out  the  Coal  of  Seams  whose  inclina- 
tion is  low,  and  whose  thickness  docs  not  exceed  six  feet.     (Frontispiece)        .          .       36 
II.  Plan  of  Board  and  Pillar  Whole  Coal  Workings,  Dipping.     Scale  260  feet  one  inch      .       36 

III.  Ventilation  of  Coal  Mines  by  splitting  the  main  current  of  Air;  Details  which  show 

the  relative  arrangement  of  the  main  Drifts,  Stoppings,  Regulators,  and  Crossings  .       39 

IV.  Our  Deputy  Overman          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .45 

V.  The  Putter .         .  .47 

VI.  The  Coal  Miner  "  Nicking"  his  Jud  and  the  Pony  Putter 54 

VII.  The  Miner's  first  step  as  the  Trapper,  with  the  Air-doors 63 

VIII.  The  Miner's  second  step — the  Driver;  With  the  Pit  horse  and  his  gears,  as  used  in  the 

Mines  of  Northumberland  and  Durham.  England  .......       64 

IX.  The  Overman     .  -       58 

X.  Mode  of  working  the  Broken  by  splitting  the  Pillars  and  duplicating  the  Juds       .         .       63 
XI.  Sketch  showing  the  mode  of  Propping  a  Jud  in  broken  workings  ....       67 

XII.  Sketch  showing  the  method  of  .working  the  Juds  off  the  end  of  a  Pillar,  and  the  mode 

of  Propping  up  the  Roof        .          .          .          •         •         •         •          •         •  67 

XIII.  Mode  of  working  Juds  off  the  Pillars  to  the  rise  when  the  Dip  is  considerable  and  less 

than  12°       .         .          . 71 

XIV.  An  example  in  which  the  "Broken"  District  is  worked  simultaneously  with  a  "Whole" 

District,  which  is  followed  at  what  is  judged  a  safe  distance    .          ...         .         .72 

XV.  Working  Coal   by   crossing  the   Metal  Ridges  of  the  old  Board-rooms  —  Isometrical 

Section  and  Plan  ........       x.         ...       76 

XVI.  Sketches  of  Appliances  used  in  the  early  transportation  of  Coal  underground,  with 

Ventilating  Furnace,  etc.       .....         ......       81 

XVII.  Interior  of  a  Board-room  or  Chamber  showing  mode  of  Propping  and  the  manner  of 

Branching  off  the  Road  into  it,  and  the  mode  of  Propping  a  Slate  or  Shaly  Roof    .       88 
XVIII.  View  in  the  Gap  or  Ravine  cutting  through  a  mountain,  with  a  Drift,  the  "Trip,"  etc.       90 
XIX.  Entrance  to  Gangway;  View  showing  how  a  set  of  Gangway  Timbers  are  made,  how 

put  up  and  Lagged,  and  the  man  who  Digs  the  place  for  them         .         .         .         .01 

XX.  Isometrical  view  showing  general  plan  of  Breast-rooms  and  Pillars,  etc.         .         .         .     103 

XXI.  Sketch  showing  Starter's  Battery,  and  Loading  Platform,  etc.       .....     104 

XXII.  The  Starter .105 

XXIII.  Sketch  showing  how  Man  ways  are  built  against  the  Pillars  inside  the  Breast-rooms; 
How  the  Manway  door  is  set  and  position  of  Monkey  Gangway ;  How  the  Manway 
through  the  Stump  is  connected  with  the  Manway  in  the  Breast-rooms,  and  the 
style  of  Battery  used  in  Breast-rooms,  having  two  Schutes ;  and  other  details  as  per 
description    .         .          .          .         .         .         ...         .         .          .         .         .         .113 

XXIV.  Section  of  a  Breast  of  Coal  in  the  Mammoth  Vein,  together  with  Breast-room,  Exca- 
vation, Crossheading  through  Pillar.  Starter's  Battery,  running  Schute,  Platform, 
Break  Stick,  Schute  Timbers  and  Wagon  in  position  to  be  loaded  .         .         .         .115 

(xv) 


THE  ART  OF  MINING  COAL 

DESCRIBED  AND  ILLUSTRATED. 


SECTION   I. 

GENERAL  INFORMATION  CONCERNING  COAL  MINES  AND  COAL  MINERS, 

WITH  DESCRIPTION  OF  LONG  WALL  AS  WORKED  IN  HORIZONTAL 

SEAMS  OF  COAL  IN  ENGLAND  AND  IN  FRANCE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

EXPLOSION  AT  SPRINGWELL  COLLIERY ;  MEANS  TO  BE  USED  AS  SAFEGUARDS  AGAINST  ACCIDENT. 

IT  is  a  painful  sight  to  witness  the  effects  of  an  explosion  at  a  coal  mine. 
While  a  child  in  small  garments  and  of  few  years,  I  formed  a  tiny  unimportant 
personage  of  a  large  and  excited  crowd  which  had  collected  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Springwell  coal  shaft.  The  Springwell  Colliery  belongs  to  the  Liddle  family,  one 
of  whose  members,  the  late  Lord  Ravensworth,  is  often  quoted  in  an  honorable  and 
laudable  connection  with  George  Stephenson,  the  Railway  Engineer. 

Above  the  shaft  was  a  cloud  of  black  dust  or  of  smoke,  whose  thick  unfolding 
volumes  were  spreading  throughout  the  atmosphere  to  cast  their  dark  gloomy 
shadows  over  the  locality ;  and  this  ominous  cloud  had  just  been  vomited  violently 
out  of  the  coal  shaft ! 

What  apparition  more  than  this  was  necessary  to  cause  that  mining  village  in 
full  view  to  become  promptly  deserted  ?  A  minute  before  the  rays  of  bright  sunlight 
had  been  flowing  to  the  earth  uninterruptedly ;  but  the  change  came  suddenly, 
and  the  contrast  of  the  past  and  present  was  unnatural. 

No  one  remained  in  the  village  who  possessed  the  power  of  locomotion.  In 
the  grief-stricken  crowd  at  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  were  a  few  men,  many  women 
and  children — including  babes  clasped  frantically  in  the  arms  of  their  mothers — 
who  were  among  the  first  to  reach  the  fatal  spot.  Many  were  the  wails  and  sad 


10  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

were  the  exclamations  they  made  !  In  the  painful  picture  there  was  no  background 
of  consolation ;  and  he  would  be  a  clever  artist  who  could  trace  it  truthfully  with 
his  pencil. 

It  was  needless  to  tell  them  what  had  taken  place.  Their  instincts  told 
them  that  not  a  soul  could  live  in  the  mine  a  hundred  fathoms  below  while  the 
shaft  was  brimming  over  with  stythe — a  term  applied  to  after  damp. 

In  the  depths  below  were  the  sons  of  that  venerable  couple  whose  days  of 
usefulness  had  been  ended  by  the  ripeness  of  old  age.  There  were  the  husbands 
of  those  wives  and  the  fathers  of  those  children  and  the  brothers  of  those  younger 
women.  And  there,  too,  the  bonnie  bairn  of  the  poor  and  lonely  widow ! 

The  alarming  cry  of  "  Springwell  pit  's  fired"  spread  over  the  surrounding 
country  like  a  telegraphic  wave,  and  this  brought  great  throngs  of  people  from  the 
other  villages  in  the  district. 

A  child  of  four  years  could  hardly  understand  much  of  what  was  transpiring; 
everything  seemed  to  be  of  such  a  mysterious  nature  and  so  completely  above  his 
comprehension,  as  to  bewilder  him.  The  viewers  came  in  their  white  flannel  shirts 
and  blue  flannel  clothes  and  drove  the  crowd  back  from  the  mouth  of  the  shaft ; 
and  the  banksmen  got  the  pit  ropes  into  their  places,  and,  hooking  up  curves,  called 
to  the  engine  men  to  chase  the  ropes.  So  the  curves  and  ropes  were  made  to  tra- 
verse the  shaft  in  obedience  to  this  order  for  the  purpose  of  agitating  the  air  in  the 
mine  and  cause  it  to  circulate  and  render  it  fit  for  respiration.  No  one  could  de- 
scend before  this  was  done.  Then  a  body  of  searchers  stepped  into  one  of  the  curves 
and  clung  to  the  few  links  of  chain  which  were  coupled  to  the  flat  hemp  rope. 
When  lowered  beneath  the  "  saddle  boards"  into  the  dark  shaft,  they  were  accom- 
panied by  the  prayers  of  the  crowd  as  the  rope  was  paid  slowly  out  of  the  slots  in 
the  engine  house  side ;  and  crawling  silently  over  the  huge  pit  pulleys,  glided  slowly 
and  steadily  down  the  shaft,  lowering  its  living  freight  to  search  for  those  dead 
bodies  which  were  shrouded  in  the  sulphurous  atmosphere  of  the  mine.  But  much 
had  to  be  done  before  the  air  could  be  made  to  circulate  so  as  to  drive  the  black 
damp  in  advance  of  the  current,  and  days  seemed  to  pass  over  before  the  crowd  of 
watchers  at  the  shaft's  mouth  seemed  to  abate.  By  this  time  many  a  parcel  had 
been  drawn  from  the  depths  below  and  landed  on  the  saddle  boards,  the  coverings 


EXPLOSION   AT   SPRINGWELL   COLLIERY.  11 

i 

removed,  and  the  contents,  often  burnt  to  a  crisp,  scrutinized  and  identified  by  some 
token,  such  as  a  portion  of  unconsumed  clothing,  or  by  some  mark  on  a  part  of  the 
body  which  had  been  screened  from  the  action  of  the  fire  by  the  thick  flannel  cloth- 
ing generally  worn  by  the  English  miners.  As  for  the  exposed  parts  of  the  body, 
the  face  and  hands  particularly,  they  hardly  bore  a  trace  of  human  resemblance. 
But  for  all  this,  that  widowed  wife  and  childless  mother  knew  the  remains  of  her 
offspring  as  soon  as  he  was  brought  to  "bank"  in  the  arms  of  a  pitman.  No  power 
could  separate  her  from  the  form  of  her  poor  bairn  until  the  strength  of  her  frail 
body  succumbed  to  the  superior  force  of  her  grief,  and  then  she  was  borne  off  in 
the  same  direction  as  her  poor  boy. 

This  is  what  memory  brings  to  me  of  a  scene  which  happened  between  forty 
and  fifty  years  ago,  the  closing  features  of  which  were  the  funerals  which  bore  away 
the  dead  miners  to  their  last  resting-places.  After  the  strange  faces  assisting  at  the 
funerals  had  vanished  from  the  village,  and  a  strange  inexplicable  influence  was 
beginning  to  exert  itself  which  affected  young  and  old  alike,  and  brought  every  one 
under  its  restraints,  the  dead  bodies  of  the  horses,  cooked  and  charred,  were  drawn 
from  the  shaft  and  hauled  away  out  of  sight.  This  seemed  to  form  the  last  of  the 
picture,  and  it  went  away  from  my  sight  like  a  dissolving  view;  which,  however, 
the  mind  can  recall  as  it  was  then  understood  by  a  child,  and  as  it  has  been  re- 
membered through  his  mature  years,  and  it  can  be  seen  still  as  it  appeared  then,  but 
modified  by  the  shades  that  experience  throws  among  its  figures. 

Brought  up  in  a  district  where  the  recurrence  of  such  accidents  has  been  by  far 
too  frequent,  I  must  confess  to  having  yielded  much  to  the  impressions  they  have 
produced,  which,  in  great  measure,  have  influenced  the  course  of  a  subsequent 
mental  training.  Much  of  the  spirit  those  teachings  have  promoted  will  be  reflected 
in  the  following  pages,  in  spite  of  any  effort  I  may  use  to  curb  and  subdue  it. 
Therefore,  if  my  sympathies  are  shown  to  be  largely  with  those,  man  and  master 
alike,  whose  lot  it  is  to  earn  their  daily  bread  within  the  dark,  dusty  recesses  of  the 
mine,  where  Death  sows  his  seeds  broadcast,  and  reaps  his  harvest  with  a  bloody 
sickle,  the  reader  will  please  to  consider  in  as  kind  a  manner  as  possible  those 
expressions  and  exclamations  which  have  their  origin  more  in  the  heart  than  in  the 
head. 


12  THE   ART   OF   MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

Since  the  occurrence  of  the  Springwell  "misfortune"  alluded  to  above,  very 
great  have  been  the  improvements  introduced  at  coal  mines,  to  be  used  as  safeguards 
against  accidents.  In  all  well-regulated  mines  the  officers  know  how  important  it  is 
to  attend  to  such  rules  and  regulations  as  are  those  which  follow. 

Keep  in  advance  all  dead  work,  and  where  gas  is  very  abundant,  and  the  slips 
and  crevices  frequent,  bore  ahead  holes  not  less  than  four  inches  in  diameter,  and 
twelve  feet  in  length.  By  an  examination  of  these  bore  holes  daily,  an  idea  of  the 
quantity  of  gas  contained  in  the  coal  may  be  formed,  and  sudden  outbursts,  to  a 
certain  extent,  avoided.  The  gas  will  drain  off  through  such  bore-holes  very  rapidly, 
but  with  much  greater  regularity  than  if  such  bodies  of  gas  were  let  out  by  the 
sudden  removal  of  large  quantities  of  coal,  as  in  the  case  of  blasting. 

Divide  the  ventilating  current  as  often  as  it  is  necessary  to  do  so  to  keep  the  air 
in  certain  places  sweet  and  respirable.  Let  the  amount  of  coal  cut  in  any  particular 
district  regulate  the  amount  of  air  sent  to  it,  more  than  the  extent  of  such  district. 
Thus,  if  you  mine  a  hundred  tons  of  coal  in  a  run  daily,  send  in  the  air  to  this  run 
or  breast  in  sufficient  quantity  to  dilute  the  gas  given  off  by  the  mining  and  breaking 
up  of  those  hundred  tons  of  coal.  Let  the  air  passing  from  such  part  of  a  mine  get 
into  a  return  air  course  in  the  most  direct  manner  possible,  by  passing  it  direct  to  an 
upper  level;  or,  if  this  is  not  practicable,  pass  it  into  a  return  air  course,  such  as  a 
monkey  gangway,  by  carrying  it  over  a  main  air  course  by  means  of  an  AIR  CROSSING. 

Examine  the  abandoned  excavations,  and  note  the  state  of  the  air  within  them. 
In  old  places  you  will  find  the  air  and  the  gas  it  contains  so  thoroughly  incorporated 
the  one  with  the  other,  as  to  form  a  dangerous  mixture  if  the  percentage  of  gas  is 
over  three  at  one  time,  and  is  greater  than  this  at  another.  The  gas  in  such  places, 
when  neglected,  has  done  much  mischief  by  strengthening  so  uniformly  and  so 
gradually  in  the  air  as  to  escape  detection  until  an  explosion  of  a  gigantic  order  has 
been  the  ultimate  result,  which  a  little  intelligent  attention,  and  a  small  increase  in 
the  ventilating  current  would  have  warded  off. 

If  you  have  spacious  air  ways,  and  these  you  must  have  in  order  to  obtain  good 
and  sufficient  ventilation,  use  regulating  doors  to  govern  the  "splits,"  and  lock  them 
securely  at  each  setting.  Regulating  doors  should  be  at  a  point  in  the  return  where 
the  air  of  its  district  is  making  its  final  exit  before  it  joins  with  the  main  out-going 
current. 


EXPLOSION   AT   SPRINGWELL   COLLIERY.  13 

Use  as  few  air  doors  as  possible,  and  none  at  all  in  the  main  intake  air  courses 
which  wagons  have  to  traverse. 

Take  great  pains  with  the  air  stoppings,  and  build  them  so  well  and  bind  them 
so  securely  that  the  force  of  an  explosion  will  not  carry  them  away. 

Air  crossings  are  better  driven  in  the  solid  strata.  When  this  is  impracticable, 
they  must  be  built  in  the  most  substantial  manner.  The  arch  is  the  usual  form ; 
but  if  they  are  not  strongly  bound  and  secured  by  cribbing,  or  by  strong  iron  hoops, 
they  are  liable  to  be  blown  up  by  the  force  of  an  explosion  acting  under  the  archway. 

Air  courses  should  be  as  straight  and  direct  as  possible,  and  as  capacious  as 
they  can  be  made. 

Officers  of  mines  should  practise  the  art  of  discovering  the  presence  of  gas  in  the 
air  and  learn  to  judge  of  its  proportions  by  the  manner  in  which  it  burns  over  the 
flame  of  a  candle.  Two  per  cent,  of  carburetted  hydrogen  in  the  air  can  easily  be 
detected  by  the  flame  of  a  closely-snuffed  candle,  or  by  the  flame  of  an  oil  lamp 
being  reduced  to  burn  brightly  at  its  minimum,  which  may  be  done  by  the  clearing 
of  the  top  of  the  wick  and  the  pulling  of  it  down  so  that  its  top  will  be  even  with 
the  level  of  the  tube.  By  the  use  of  a  flame  of  hydrogen,  on  account  of  its  great 
heat,  the  gas  in  the  air  may  be  burnt  and  its  flame  seen  if  its  proportions  in  the  air 
are  as  low  as  one-half  of  one  per  cent.  By  burning  this  flame  in  pure  air  and  then 
in  a  mixture  of  air  and  gas,  the  difference,  which  is  marked,  can  very  easily  be 
distinguished. 

If  the  ventilating  force  be  acquired  by  any  mechanical  appliance,  this  should 
be  duplicated,  so  that  in  case  of  an  accident  to  one  the  other  could  be  promptly  used 
in  its  place. 

All  mines  should  be  so  well  inspected  daily,  by  its  own  staff  of  officers,  as  to 
render  the  inspection  of  them  by  any  government  officer  unnecessary. 

The  safety  lamps,  hoisting  ropes,  timbering,  and  all  other  appliances  should 
have  their  due  share  of  attention ;  but  defects  in  these  appliances  are  to  be  seen  by 
the  naked  eye  and  may  be  detected  by  any  ordinary  person ;  it  is  different  with  the 
air  which  so  often  floats  the  angel  of  Death  into  the  presence  of  the  unsuspecting 
miner,  who  goes  to  his  doom,  in  many  instances,  sheerly  because  of  his  ignorance 
concerning  the  nature  of  this  enemy. 


14  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   II. 

COAL-DUST  AND  COAL-GAS  IN  THE  AIR  FORMING  A  DANGEROUS  MIXTURE. 

WE  are  told  that  the  explosions  of  coal  mines  cannot  be  avoided.  Sudden 
outbursts  of  gas  break  away  through  the  coal  and  fill  the  galleries  and  excavations 
in  their  vicinities  with  gas,  just  in  the  same  manner  that  the  bursting  of  a  steam 
boiler  would  fill  the  air  in  its  immediate  locality  with  steam.  Large  portions  of  coal 
are  thrown  out  at  the  same  time.  Certainly  no  ventilating  current  howsoever  large 
could  overpower  the  large  quantities  of  gas  given  out  at  such  times ;  hence  the 
necessity  of  driving  all  opening  places  well  in  advance  of  the  others.  Such  outbursts 
of  gas  taking  place  in  any  locality  where  a  large  number  of  men  are  at  work, 
enhance  the  danger  of  explosion. 

An  explosive  atmosphere  may  be  composed  of  various  ingredients ;  but  in  coal 
mines,  coal-dust  and  coal-gas  form  the  active  combustibles.  Coal-dust,  so  finely 
pulverized  disseminated  through  the  air  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible,  forms  a 
dangerous  constituent  and  one  which  does  not  receive  the  attention  it  merits.  It  is 
a  more  unmanageable  ingredient  than  the  coal-gas  itself.  A  swift  current  of  air 
traversing  a  mining  passage  not  having  its  sides  moistened  by  artificial  or  natural 
means,  gathers  up  the  dust  on  its  route  and  bears  it  through  the  working  places. 

In  the  thick  beds  of  anthracite  which  lie  on  a  high  inclination  and  are  worked 
by  breasts,  resembling  a  series  of  inverted  quarries,  large  bodies  of  dust  are  formed 
by  the  coal  as  it  works  its  way  down  to  the  gangway.  But  it  is  where  the  coal  grinds 
itself  down  through  the  STARTER'S  BATTERY  that  the  great  clouds  of  dust  are  met  with 
in  the  air.  At  every  rush  of  coal  you  see  volumes  of  dust  burst  out  of  the  battery 
and  fill  the  passages  with  their  opaque  masses.  Then,  again,  down  at  the  gangway, 
where  the  coal  is  running  into  the  wagon,  you  cannot  see  the  flame  inside  of  the 
loader's  lamp  ten  paces  away  from  him.  Nay,  I  question  whether  there  are  not 
times  when  the  loader  himself  cannot  see  the  light  of  the  lamp  he  holds  in  his 
hand. 


COAL-DUST   AND   COAL-GAS   IN   THE   AIR.  15 

A  man  way  is  a  passage  formed  on  the  side  of  an  excavation  by  a  series  of  props 
being  laid  against  it.  The  props  are  each  secured,  head  and  foot,  in  holes,  one 
being  cut  in  the  rib  about  five  feet  above  the  bottom  slate,  the  other  in  the  bottom 
slate,  about  two  and  a  half  feet  from  the  rib.  At  a  distance  apart  of  about  five  feet, 
they  are  laid  against  the  rib  so  as  to  be  as  nearly  as  possible  parallel  to  each  other, 
and  they  are  set  at  such  an  angle  as  to  lie  in  the  same  plane.  Planks  nailed  on  the 
outside  and  spanning  the  distances  between  them  form  a  space  underneath,  large 
enough  for  a  man  to  crawl  through.  By  being  advanced  with  the  breast  and  kept 
a  few  feet  in  arrear,  it  forms  the  travelling  road  of  the  miner ;  and  it  forms  the  air- 
course  for  the  ventilation — one  manway  being  on  each  side  of  the  breast  room.  On 
the  outside  of  the  planking  a  portion  of  the  mined  coal  of  the  working  breast  is 
stored  until  the  breast  is  worked  up  to  its  limits ;  and  this  coal  forms  the  gob  of  the 
coal  mine.  It  contains  elements  of  danger  in  the  shape  of  gas,  coal-dust,  and  occa- 
sionally the  resulting  gases  of  spontaneous  combustion,  among  which  that  fatal  gas, 
carbonic  oxide,  takes  its  place,  with  that  other  poisonous  element,  sulphurous  acid ; 
these  uniting  with  others  to  form  the  WHITE  DAMP  so  fatal  to  the  physical  constitution 
of  the  miner. 

It  is  through  this  gob  that  the  miner's  travelling  way  is  built,  and  it  is  through 
this  that  the  air  goes  which  ventilates  his  breast.  If  he  have  a  large  quantity  of  air 
through  so  small  a  passage  as  this,  the  current  must  travel  at -a  rapid  and  conse- 
quently at  a  dangerous  rate.  The  area  of  such  a  passage  cannot  exceed  six  feet, 
and  when  the  miner  gets  inside  of  it  or  stows  his  materials  and  timber  there,  it 
becomes  nearly  choked.  Allowing  it  to  be  the  clear  six  feet,  to  get  a  few  thousand 
feet  of  air  in  circulation  per  minute  will  require  a  rapid  current  and  necessitate  the 
employment  of  a  powerful  ventilator.  Three  thousand  cubic  feet  per  minute  forced 
through  so  small  a  passage  will  require  a  velocity  of  current  equal  to  eight  and 
one-third  feet  per  second.  This  is  a  dangerous  rate,  inasmuch  as  it  will  force  an 
ignited  body  of  inflammable  gas  through  the  gauze  of  a  safety  lamp  and  cause  an 
explosion  in  the  air  on  the  outside  of  it.  A  current  of  air  driven  through  the  man- 
ways  at  this  rate  picks  up  pieces  of  coal  as  large  as  peas  and  pelts  them  into  the 
eyes  of  the  miner  as  he  dresses  up  his  ribs  to  extend  his  travelling  way.  At  many 
places  lie  must  wear  goggles  to  mitigate  the  punishment  which  the  showers  of  coal- 


16  THE   ART   OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

dust  inflict.  But  what  of  his  lungs  1  The  strong  men  who  work  a  few  years  in 
such  showers  of  dust  become  weak,  and  their  faces  blanch  from  the  continuous 
absorption  of  the  coal-dust  into  their  systems.  A  consequence  is  that  you  put  your 
miner  working  in  such  mixtures  under  the  sod  twenty  years  prematurely.  Saying 
this,  we  are  putting  the  many  other  liabilities  to  which  he  is  subjected  entirely  to 
one  side.  Those  other  dangers,  which  are  evident  to  his  senses,  he  may  watch  at 
will  and  guard  against  at  discretion ;  but  these,  which  are  so  subtile  in  their  nature 
as  to  be  far  above  his  comprehension,  or  which  do  not  receive  a  due  share  of  his 
attention,  are  the  ones  to  be  held  up  in  front  of  his  mind's  eye ;  and  it  is  much  the 
purpose  of  this  work  to  hold  up  danger  posts  somewhat  like  those  our  deputies 
sometimes  set  at  the  end  of  the  "  fiery  boards"  to  point  out  those  dangers  which 
are  not  so  well  and  so  generally  understood. 


MARSH    GAS    AN    EXPERIMENT.  17 


CHAPTER   III. 

MARSH  GAS,  AN  EXPERIMENT.     THE  EFFECT  OF  A  BRATTICE  IN  AN  OPENING  SCHUTE. 

IN  studying  the  qualities  of  matter,  after  completing  our  elementary  course, 
we  read  to  the  greatest  advantage  from  Nature's  book.  In  other  words,  we  get  the 
substances  themselves  and  examine  for  ourselves  and  thus  become  more  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  them.  The  gases  are  the  most  delicate  of  all  the 
ponderable  substances  to  handle.  They  are  the  least  manifested  to  our  outward 
senses,  and  we  must  constantly  advance  on  them  well  armed  with  the  delicate 
instruments  that  science  and  art  have  placed  in  our  hands.  The  coal  mining  engi- 
neers of  Europe  have  been  for  a  long  time  united  in  their  researches  after  the 
nature  of  gases  and  in  inventing  means  and  appliances  to  be  used  in  mining  as  safe- 
guards. We  have  learned  much  from  those  researches.  Mining  casualties  are 
attended  not  only  by  loss  of  life,  but  by  great  pecuniary  loss  as  well.  Consequently, 
it  is  much  to  the  interest  of  a  colliery  proprietor  to  have  established  at  his  colliery 
all  such  systems  as  may  enhance  the  safety  of  his  mine.  To  show  in  what  light 
miners  regard  gas,  the  relation  of  a  couple  of  instances  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

All  who  have  studied  elementary  chemistry  know  something  of  the  marsh  gas. 
It  is  identical  with  the  carburetted  hydrogen  of  the  coal  mine.  As  we  are  not 
writing  for  chemists,  there  is  no  need  to  give  a  list  of  its  chemical  constituents.  To 
know  that  to  consume  the  gas  as  it  comes  from  the  marsh  or  fresh  and  unmixed 
from  the  pores  of  coal,  there  must  be  eight  cubic  feet  of  air  to  each  cubic  foot  of  the 
gas,  is  enough.  To  dilute  the  mixture  so  as  to  render  it  incombustible  requires  at 
least  sixteen  cubic  feet  of  air  to  each  cubic  foot  of  the  gas.  To  experiment  with 
such  delicate  things  you  require  a  rather  complete  laboratory,  and  if  you  need 
any  one  to  assist  you,  he  should  have  some  idea  of  what  is  going  on  in  his  presence. 
Speaking  in  the  second  person,  with  the  kind  reader's  permission,  will  do  just  as 
well  to  relate  those  incidents  above  referred  to,  which  are  real  iu  every  particular. 

3 


18  THE    ART    OK    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

You  have  a  laboratory  in  a  particular  mining  town  which  need  not  be  named. 
Temporary  as  it  is,  it  answers  your  purposes  admirably.  People  do  not  know 
what  you  are  about;  and  they  say  many  things  and  draw  many  inferences,  and  these 
are  always  wide  of  the  truth.  People  are  not  all  charitable,  and  some  do  not  know 
whether  you  are  smuggling  whiskey  or  coining  false  money.  It  does  not  matter 
how  open  you  keep  your  doors  or  how  well  you  entertain  and  amuse  your  neighbors 
by  allowing  them  to  read  all  your  periodicals  and  by  giving  them  all  the  honest 
information  they  ask  for;  you  are  not  relieved  from  suspicion. 

On  your  table  stands  a  large  jar  of  the  marsh  gas  just  now  spoken  of.  To 
hold  the  gas  securely,  the  jar  is  inverted  and  its  mouth  is  immersed  in  water.  This 
prevents  contact  with  the  air  and  preserves  the  gas  from  endosmotic  action  or 
diffusion.  Patrick  Cummings  steps  in.  Pat  has  been  a  very  worthy  and  honest 
acquaintance  for  some  time  past,  and  you  and  he  have  become  quite  familiar.  His 
attention  is  fixed  on  the  jar  of  gas. 

"  What  the  d is  in  the  jar,  shure  V  asks  Pat. 

As  full  of  mischief  as  Pat  is  of  curiosity,  you  answer  in  a  riddle  which  Pat  does 
not  care  to  solve. 

"  That  thing  in  the  bottle  is  our  common  enemy ;  the  gentleman  whose  name 
you  have  just  mentioned,  or  one  of  his  imps  at  least." 

Pat's  attention  is  none  the  less  fixed  by  this  careless  answer,  as  his  face  expands 
into  an  incredulous  smile. 

A  wicked  idea  strikes  you  as  you  ask  Patrick  if  he  would  like  to  see  the  gen- 
tleman in  question. 

There  is  no  answer,  but  there  is  that  expression  in  his  eye  which  questions 
your  ability.  You  accept  it  as  a  challenge  and  carry  out  your  idea  at  you  do  not 
know  what  is  to  be  the  cost.  You  take  a  match  from  the  safe  and  strike  a  light, 
and  raising  the  jar  hold  the  flame  of  the  match  to  the  mouth  of  it.  That  portion  of 
gas  in  contact  with  the  air  ignites.  Being  pure,  the  gas  in  the  jar  cannot  explode 
for  lack  of  air.  You  turn  the  jar  right  side  up,  and  then  the  gas,  being  so  much 
lighter  than  air,  rushes  upwards,  and  a  body  of  air,  equal  in  volume  to  the  escaping 
gas,  descends  into  the  jar  to  displace  it  and  force  it  out.  There  is  a  slight  struggle 
between  the  air  and  the  gas,  and  then  a  volume  of  flame  shoots  up  to  the  ceiling, 
carrying  away  with  it  the  neck  of  the  jar. 


MARSH    GAS   AN    EXPERIMENT.  19 

Patrick  is  so  much  taken  by  surprise,  that  in  his  excitement  he  invokes  the  aid 
of  holy  and  sacred  powers,  in  the  middle  of  which  you  cannot  refrain  from  profane 
and  boisterous  laughter. 

You  lose  your  jar,  your  gas,  and  your  reputation  at  one  foul  blow 'of  your  own 
striking. 

Patrick  tells  his  tale,  and  he  does  not  forget  to  comment  on  a  point  which  adds 
nothing  to  your  credit.  That  there  is  some  mysterious  connection  between  yourself 
and  his  satanic  majesty,  Patrick  firmly  believes ;  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  impress 
this  idea  on  the  minds  of  many  other  persons  who  believe  him. 

Marsh  gas  in  sufficient  quantities  for  experimental  purposes  may  be  obtained 
in  any  place  where  vegetable  matter  is  decomposing  in  a  stagnant  pool  of  water. 
All  we  need  to  do  to  get  it  is  to  provide  a  jar  with  a  wide  neck.  Fill  the  jar  with 
water,  and  while  the  mouth  remains  under  the  surface  invert  it.  Then  raise  the  jar, 
taking  care  to  keep  its  mouth  only  below  the  surface  of  the  water.  Directly  under 
the  jar  stir  the  mud  in  the  pool  with  a  stick,  and  secure  the  bubbles  of  gas  as  they 
rise  through  the  water.  The  gas  entering  the  neck  of  the  jar  will  rise  up  and  take 
a  place  over  the  water,  which  it  will  displace.  As  soon  as  the  water  is  all  out  of 
the  jar  the  latter  is  full  of  proto-carburetted  hydrogen,  and  is  sufficiently  pure  for 
ordinary  experimental  purposes. 

In  carrying  the  gas  away  from  the  pool  of  water  a  saucer  should  be  placed 
imder  it.  A  portion  of  water  in  the  saucer  will  prevent  the  air  from  coming  into 
contact  with  the  gas. 

To  describe  the  nature  of  the  existing  prejudices  among  miners  and  their  bosses, 
we  will  relate  the  following  incident. 

There  is  a  colliery  within  a  short  radius  of  Ashland  mining  its  coal  from  the 
Mammoth  vein.  The  dip  of  the  coal  seam  is  over  50°.  Like  many  other  seams 
of  the  Mahanoy  basin,  it  is  divided  by  numerous  breaks.  These  divisions  often 
run  through  the  rocky  strata,  and  have  had  their  surfaces  in  contact  ground  smooth 
by  their  movement  under  great  pressure.  These  form  spaces  into  which  the  coal-gas 
has  lodged  itself,  and  as  the  coal  is  worked  out,  the  gas  in  those  spaces  pours  into 
the  excavations  in  large  volumes. 

In  the  old  abandoned  places  you  have  been  robbing  the  pillars  and  have  been 


20  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

earning  high  wages  to  the  envy  and  disgust  of  the  other  miners.  These  have  been 
wishing  to  have  you  placed  in  some  work  driven  in  the  solid  coal  and  thus  placed  on 
an  equal  footing  with  themselves.  The  time  arrives  when  there  are  no  more  pillars 
to  be  robbed,  and  you  find  out  the  inside  boss,  who  is  not  at  all  a  friend  of  yours  in 
his  heart  on  account  of  your  being  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  the  "operator." 

You,  as  an  ordinary  employe,  are  entitled  to  the  first  breast  to  be  opened,  and 
as  the  gangway  has  been  driven  well  in  advance  of  the  last  open  breast,  there  is 
plenty  of  room  to  start  off  the  schutes  and  manways  necessary  to  open  out  a  new 
breast  of  coal.  The  following  statement  will  show  the  common  mode  of  giving  a 
contract  to  a  working  miner. 

You  apply  for  the  working  and  opening  of  the  new  breast  just  alluded  to,  and 
the  boss  tells  you  that  no  fan  boys  are  to  be  obtained ;  and  until  he  gets  some  of 
these  necessary  assistants,  you  must  wait  an  indefinite  length  of  time  before  you  can 
begin  the  work. 

Fan  boys  were  needed  to  turn  the  hand  fans  used  to  blow  a  current  of  air 
through  square  wooden  boxes  into  the  schutes  and  manways  as  these  were  driven 
up  the  incline,  because  the  gas,  being  so  much  lighter  than  air,  tends  to  settle  in 
the  spaces  formed  above  the  levels  through  which  the  currents  of  air  pass. 

You  do  not  like  the  idea  of  losing  your  time  for  so  trivial  a  cause,  so  you  say  to 
the  boss  in  a  tone  which  is  entirely  too  frank  for  your  own  interests  when  a  bargain 
is  to  be  made,  and  you  see  your  opponent  taking  a  mean  advantage  of  you,  as  he 
evidently  was  in  this  case,  by  making  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  you — 

"  Supposing  that  I  can  obtain  fan  boys,  will  you  allow  me  the  regular  rate  of 
wages  you  pay  to  them  I" 

This  proposal  could  not  be  objected  to,  and  the  boss  did  not  object  to  it. 

But  you  make  another  which  takes  matters  a  step  further;  you  propose  to  drive 
the  fans  yourself.  This  staggers  the  boss,  and  he  hardly  thinks  you  in  earnest. 
You  add  another  condition,  to  close  the  bargain,  which  is  the  only  sharp  thing  you 
ever  did  in  your  life — 

"  In  the  event  of  dispensing  with  the  fan  boys,  will  you  then  allow  me  the 
amount  of  their  wages  V  you  ask. 


MARSH   GAS   AN    EXPERIMENT.  21 

\ 

"  Yes,"  says  the  boss,  adding  an  expression  which  need  not  here  be  repeated, 
and  thinking  you  to  have  lost  your  senses.  He  could  not  see  how  the  gas  was  to 
be  driven  out  if  there  were  no  fans  to  be  used. 

This  settled,  you  find  a  butty  and  you  start  off  the  schute  while  your  butty 
starts  06°  the  manway.  After  the  first  day's  work  you  have  a  large  space  opened  in 
each  of  the  places.  So  the  next  morning  you  simply  hang  a  piece  of  canvas  across 
the  gangway  at  the  foot  of  each  excavation.  This  has  the  effect  of  turning 
enough  air  into  the  elevated  spaces  to  keep  them  clean.  You  work  on,  and  as  you 
advance  the  places,  you  join  a  brattice  to  the  canvas ;  and  this  brattice  carries  the 
air  into  the  face  of  each,  and  you  have  no  trouble  to  keep  them  safe  by  the  ventila- 
tion you  thus  obtain ;  and  you  find  it  to  give  you  less  labor  than  the  fixing  of  air 
boxes  would  require.  So  your  two  dollars  per  day — the  fan  boys'  wages — come  to 
you  as  a  perquisite. 

What  was  thought  of  the  arrangement  by  the  miners  and  the  fire  boss,  who 
lost  his  job  of  brushing  out  the  gas  every  morning  by  it,  the  following  will  show. 

You  go  to  the  mines  late  one  morning,  about  nine  o'clock  in  fact.  When  you 
arrive  at  the  schutes  you  find  the  men  collected  there  bent  on  having  a  row  with 
you.  The  men  are  mostly  Welsh,  but  a  few  Irish  are  among  them.  You  receive 
a  volley  of  abuse  to  begin  with,  and  the  fire  boss  joins  the  crowd  against  you,  and 
you  feel  that  you  are  getting  into  a  scrape. 

The  miners  who  work  piece-work  in  the  same  manner  as  yourself  complain 
that  your  places  have  not  been  examined,  and  they  will  not  work  until  they  are. 
Then  you  turn  to  the  fire  boss  and  ask  why  the  places  have  not  been  examined. 

"  Because,  you  see,"  says  he,  "  you  be  working  the  gas  out  by  contract,  man 
dear !"  and  he  places  a  space  between  every  word  of  his  sentence,  and  holds  his 
safety  lamp  in  your  face  to  witness  the  effect  his  words — meant  to  ridicule  you — 
have  on  your  temper. 

Now  you  are  not  the  coolest  man  in  the  world,  and  between  anger  and  disgust 
you  can  hardly  contain  yourself.  For  the  sake  of  half  a  minute's  work  the  fire  boss 
has  allowed  a  dozen  men  to  remain  idle  for  two  full  hours ;  and  they  are  nursing  a 
bitter  wrath  against  you,  whom  he  wished  to  hold  up  as  the  one  responsible.  You 
know  that  the  fire  boss  is  thought  to  be  very  sage,  and  is  in  a  responsible  position. 


22  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

But  you  know  also  that  there  is  a  tolerable  current  of  air  passing,  and  that  a  large 
portion  of  it  is  travelling  past  the  brattice  and  into  the  face  of  each  of  your  excava- 
tions, and  that  there  can  exist  in  them  no  dangerous  accumulations  of  gas.  With 
this  conviction  you  place  your  naked  lamp  on  your  hat ;  and  before  any  one  of  that 
excited  crowd  can  know  what  you  are  about,  you  spring  on  to  the  platform  of  the 
opening  schute.  No  one  attempts  to  hinder  you ;  but  being  convinced  that  your 
places  would  be  as  full  of  gas  as  have  been  all  other  schutes  after  standing  undis- 
turbed over  night,  they  scramble  to  their  feet  and  vie  with  each  other  to  get  as  far 
away  from  the  spot  as  possible  before  the  explosion  that  is  to  be  takes  place. 

You  crawl  to  the  face  of  the  schute  and  examine  every  nook  in  it ;  but  you 
find  no  gas.  The  air  circulates  quietly  past  the  brattice,  and  where  such  is  the 
case,  except  very  large  quantities  of  gas  are  blowing  out  of  the  coal,  no  dangerous 
accumulations  can  take  place. 

You  sit  quietly  down  on  the  loose  coals  near  the  face,  and  your  chagrin  gives 
place  to  uncontrollable  mirth.  The  footsteps  of  the  crowd  racing  outwards  so  as  to 
almost  break  their  necks  have  scarcely  ceased  to  sound  in  your  ears,  when  it  occurs 
to  you,  as  the  funniest  part  of  the  farce,  that  your  butty  and  the  fire  boss  have  also 
disappeared  and  you  remain  all  alone  in  your  glory. 

"  Could  all  crowds  be  dispersed  in  this  manner  there  would  never  be  any  riots 
and  little  need  of  policemen,"  you  cannot  help  thinking. 

But  a  step  comes  creepingly  along  the  gangway,  a  light  appears  at  the  platform, 
and  you  discern  a  broad  face  turned  up  towards  you.  After  a  few  seconds  of  con- 
templation you  hear  a  rough  voice  call  out,  not  to  you,  but  to  some  of  the  others 
away  out  on  the  gangway. 

"  Bhoys,  come  here !  By  the  powers,  the  gas  is  charmed  !"  and  one  creeps  in 
after  another,  and  the  monJcey  men,  the  gangway  men,  the  cross-hole  men,  and  the 
schute  men,  starting  other  schutes  in  an  inside  opening  breast,  all  of  whom  have 
been  kept  idle  by  their  distrust  of  your  brattice,  now  slink  into  their  work  as  if  they 
were  ashamed  of  themselves. 

So  you  finish  the  schute  and  man  ways  and  headings  without  the  aid  of  fan 
boys,  and  receive  a  bonus  of  fifty  dollars  for  your  services,  and  besides  save  the  fire 
boss  the  trouble  of  brushing  out  the  gas  of  a  morning,  which  is  a  barbarous  custom, 


MARSH    GAS   AN   EXPERIMENT.  23 

and  has  cost  many  a  life  by  sending  the  gas  ready  mixed  on  to  some  distant  light, 

• 

there  to  be  exploded. 

You  would  fancy  that  bratticing  would  have  become  the  custom  at  this  colliery 
from  that  moment,  but  it  did  not ;  why  it  is  hard  to  guess. 

But  in  a  short  time  after  this  you  urge  Joseph  Brown,  then  the  inside  boss  at 
the  Tunnel  Colliery,  Ashland,  to  try  it  in  the  same  manner,  and  it  works  so  well 
as  to  acquire  a  reputation  which  takes  it  into  all  the  fiery  mines  in  the  coal  region. 
But  the  brattice  has  been  used  in  Europe  since  the  time  of  Spedding's  application 
of  underground  ventilation,  nearly  two  centuries  ago. 


24  THE    ART   OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

IMPROVEMENTS  OF  MIXING  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  AND  WELSH  MINES.     COAL  MINING  ENGINEERS. 

HETTON  COLLIERY. 

IN  the  Lancashire  district,  the  upper  seams  of  coal  gave  out  but  little  explosive 
gas,  and  the  mines  there  were  worked  on  a  small  scale.  Many  hoisting  shafts  were 
used  at  a  colliery  even  in  the  present  century,  and  the  ventilation  was  not  very 
perfect.  You  would  see  one  engine  in  the  centre  of  a  group  of  shafts  used  to  wind 
the  coal  from  all  of  them.  There  was  a  system  of  drums  and  counter-shafts 
connected  to  the  main  shaft  of  the  engine ;  and  some  of  them  were  set  at  right 
angles  to  the  main.  The  work  had  neither  system  nor  centralization  in  it,  and 
the  yield  of  no  particular  mine  had  approached  to  one-half  of  that  of  the  average 
collieries  of  the  North. 

After  the  sinking  of  some  of  the  shafts  through  the  rocks  to  a  lower  series  of 
veins,  a  great  deal  of  gas  was  encountered  in  the  Rushy  Park  and  Little  Delph 
coal  seams  now  extensively  worked  at  the  collieries  near  St.  Helens  and  Wigan. 

Those  seams  yield  a  coal  of  excellent  quality,  and  they  vary  in  thickness  from 
three  to  five  feet.  But  the  men  who  had  been  employed  as  managers  in  the  upper 
seams  made  but  little  progress  in  these  below ;  and  in  spite  of  the  means  devised, 
the  out-put  of  the  collieries  was  limited. 

Matters  of  business  brought  Mr.  John  Wales,  well  known  as  a  mining  engineer 
of  the  North,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  a  wire-rope  manufacturer  of  Haydock,  Lancashire, 
together,  and  those  were  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Wilson  by  an  opulent  colliery 
owner  having  an  extensive  colliery  near  St.  Helens.  The  conversation  flowed  natu- 
rally into  the  subject  of  coal  mining.  Mr.  Johnson  was  the  colliery  owner,  and  he 
expressed  astonishment  at  Mr.  Wales's  account  of  the  Hetton  collieries,  whose 
admirable  system  of  working  and  ventilating  had  been  perfected  under  the  joint 
efforts  of  himself  and  Nicholas  Wood — the  latter  well  known  by  his  work  on  rail- 
ways. Mr.  Wood  had  been  an  apprentice  of  Mr.  John  Buddie,  and  also  was  the 
founder  of  the  Northern  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 


IMPROVEMENTS   OF    MINING    IN    THE    SOUTHERN    AND    WELSH    MINES.  25 

Mr.  Wales  paid  a  visit  of  inspection  to  the  mines  of  Mr.  Johnson,  and  he  saw 
that  no  change  could  be  effected  until  a  complete  change  was  made  in  the  officials. 
The  manager  was  on  a  par  with  the  managers  of  our  anthracite  mines,  a  clerk  and 
civil  engineer,  without  a  knowledge  of  mining  in  its  details.  The  actual  manage- 
ment of  the  mine  was  left  to  a  man  brought  up  in  the  mines,  one  of  those  self-made 
men  we  are  constantly  meeting  with  in  all  kinds  of  public  works.  They  want  none 
of  yo\ir  book  learning — your  geometry,  and  the  language  you  use  to  comprehend  it 
by,  algebra ;  your  technical  science  may  go  to  the  deuce  for  them ;  they  do  not 
require  such  nonsense  stuffed  into  their  stubborn  heads.  To  get  along  with  such 
men  in  a  dangerous  mine  would  simply.be  an  impossibility.  Mr.  Wales,  knowing 
this,  invited  Mr.  Johnson  to  pay  him  a  visit  at  the  Hetton  Collieries,  to  which  invi- 
tation Mr.  Johnson  promptly  responded. 

At  Hetton  Mr.  Johnson  was  astonished  at  the  gigantic  nature  of  the  works, 
not  so  apparent  on  the  surface  as  they  were  made  manifest  to  him  under  ground, 
and  at  the  plans  in  the  office  and  at  the  explanations  made  by  Mr.  Wales  and  his 
staff  of  assistants  and  apprentices.  But  for  these  explanations  Mr.  Johnson  would 
have  thought  that  there  were  a  number  of  unnecessary  men  used  in  the  executive 
force. 

First,  there  was  Mr.  Wales  in  charge  of  the  collieries  as  head  viewer.  Then 
there  was  his  assistant  as  general  under  viewer.  Then  Mr.  Moore,  the  head 
mechanical  engineer,  in  charge  of  the  railways,  engines,  and  repair  shops,  which 
had  the  magnitude  of  the  repair  shops  of  many  railways. 

In  the  mine  Mr.  Johnson  found  the  coal  of  the  rise  to  be  lowered  by  self-acting 
planes,  and  that  of  the  dip  hauled  out  by  engines  winding  it  up  the  engine  planes, 
and  along  the  levels  by  horses  drawing  long  trains  of  excellently  constructed  tubs  or 
small  wagons.  He  met  the  overman,  whose  great  responsibilities  were  explained  to 
him ;  and  in  fact  he  saw  that  no  such  system  could  ever  be  accomplished  in  mines 
except  where  the  same  division  of  trained  labor  was  resorted  to. 

The  systems  of  working  out  the  coal  did  not  impress  him  with  so  much  force  as 
did  the  manner  of  applying  the  forces.  The  ventilation  of  the  mine,  although  an 
eye-witness,  he  could  hardly  conceive  to  be  so  great  as  it  was  represented  by  the 

4 


26  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

scientific  instruments  he  saw  applied  to  weigh  and  to  measure  it.  It  was  not  so 
easy  for  him  to  believe  that  there  were  over  seven  tons  (190,000  cubic  feet)  of 
air  taken  into  the  mine  in  the  short  space  of  each  minute,  and  that  this  was  main- 
tained during  the  year  in  and  the  year  out.  That  it  was  split  up  into  a  number 
of  underground  currents  and  sent  into  as  many  different  districts  without  the  aid  of 
a  door  in  the  main  roads,  but  through  the  aid  of  the  regulator  instead,  showed  him 
how  admirable  was  the  system  of  working  and  ventilation  adopted  at  this  colliery ; 
such  perfection  being  attained  not  in  a  day,  but  in  a  century,  beginning  under  Mr. 
Buddie's  direction,  occupying  the  lifetime  of  Nicholas  Wood,  and  now  carried  out 
through  the  careful  superintendence  of  Mr.  Wales.  But  the  example  of  mining 
at  Hetton  was  not  in  the  north  an  exception  as  much  as  the  rule ;  there  were  the 
large  collieries  of  Ryhope,  Pemberton,  Thornly,  and  Haswell  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood,  and  many  others  in  the  same  coal  field,  the  excellence  of  whose  regu- 
lations was  quite  up  to  the  standard  of  those  practised  at  the  Hetton  Collieries. 

From  that  day  Mr.  Johnson  set  his  mind  on  the  object  of  remodelling  his 
collieries.  Mr.  Wrales  engaged,  at  Mr.  Johnson's  request,  a  northern  mining  engineer 
to  take  charge  of  his  Lancashire  collieries,  and  the  engineer  in  turn  provided  himself 
with  a  staff  of  assistants.  In  a  few  years  the  improvements  were  so  marked  and  the 
produce  of  the  mines  so  much  augmented,  that  other  colliery  owners  in  the  district 
followed  the  example  set  by  Mr.  Johnson ;  and  now  in  the  Lancashire  coal  district 
there  are  many  large  collieries  rivalling  in  extent  and  production  the  mines  in  the 
north  of  England. 

But  Lancashire  was  not  the  only  district  in  the  United  Kingdom  that  received 
benefit  from  a  change  in  system.  Wales  imported  some  of  the  northern  engineers ; 
and  these  brought  along  their  assistants,  and  established  themselves  and  their 
systems  to  the  discomfiture  of  the  Welsh  bosses  in  the  Welsh  mines ;  and  within 
the  last  twenty-five  years  the  mining  engineer — almost  unheard-of  in  those  mines 
before  that  time — has  planted  a  branch  of  his  mining  institute,  and,  unlike  the  old 
boss,  his  predecessor,  who  kept  all  his  paltry  secrets  connected  with  his  craft  to 
himself,  disseminates  that  knowledge  which  is  so  much  required  by  the  miner,  and 
which  science  teaches  in  the  most  liberal  manner.  The  time  may  not  be  far  distant 
when  our  bosses,  who  seem  to  be  very  much  made  up  of  those  old-school  bosses  of 


IMPROVEMENTS    OF    MINING    IN    THE   SOUTHERN    AND    WELSH    MINES.  27 

Europe,  will  be  uprooted  through   the  same  agency  and  scattered  in   the  same 
manner ;  I  mean  by  the  EDUCATED  ENGINEER,  let  him  be  of  what  origin  he  may. 

Being  employed  as  one  of  a  corps  of  assistants,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  witness- 
ing the  effect  of  the  changes  made  at  one  of  the  Lancashire  collieries.  The  mode  of 
working  out  the  coal  as  it  had  been  practised  we  found  to  be  admirably  adapted 
to  the  district ;  and  our  books  on  mining  call  this  the  Lancashire  Panel  System. 
Mr.  Hedley  has  written  a  valuable  practical  treatise  on  coal  mining,  in  which  he 
mentions  it.  In  the  ventilation  of  the  mine  we  found  the  greatest  defects.  The 
machinery  for  hoisting,  admirably  adapted  to  its  work,  we  found  to  be  in  its  main 
points  of  AMERICAN  origin  and  quite  the  equal,  if  not  the  superior  in  some  respects, 
of  its  brother  of  the  north  made  by  the  best  of  engine  builders.  I  allude  to  the 
Stevens  type  of  cam  motion  engine  as  used  on  our  American  rivers. 

But  the  mine  was  divided  into  districts  at  once,  and  into  each  district  a  fresh 
current  of  air  was  sent  to  ventilate  it.  Deputies  were  employed  to  look  after  the 
working  places  and  the  proper  ventilation  of  those  districts ;  to  timber  the  places, 
lay  the  track,  keep  up  the  brattice,  and  look  after  the  work  generally.  Instead  of 
throwing  any  more  responsibility  on  the  coal-cutter,  he  was  relieved  of  that  which 
he  had ;  and  his  work  was  reduced  to  that  of  cutting  coal  only.  He  did  not  find 
any  fault  with  an  arrangement  which  relieved  him  of  a  burden  and  lessened  his 
labor;  he  had  no  timber  to  hunt,  and  no  rails  to  look  after,  no  putter  to  pay. 
He  lost  no  time  on  account  of  gaseous  accumulations,  and  was  not  in  a  constant 
dread  of  his  life.  But  he  could  not  carry  matches,  nor  light  his  pipe  through  the 
meshes  of  his  safety  lamp ;  and  this  was  an  arrangement  he  did  not  like,  but  to 
which  he  had  to  submit  as  a  provision  of  general  safety.  In  working  back  the 
pillars  he  was  not  allowed  to  leave  stumps  in  the  goaf  to  deflect  pressure  on  the 
ends  of  the  pillars  as  he  cut  them  out.  The  coal  was  not  to  be  crushed  out  by 
pressure  and  ground  into  dust ;  it  was  to  be  mined  in  lump  in  the  best  known 
manner ;  and  the  deputy  was  never  so  far  away  from  the  miners  as  not  to  see  this 
provision  properly  carried  into  effect.  On  the  whole,  it  was  by  the  new  arrange- 
ment of  old  plans  more  than  by  the  introduction  of  new  ones,  and  by  the  concerted 
action  of  the  executive  force  that  the  increased  safety  of  the  mine  was  accomplished 
and  (he  production  tripled  in  a  short  space  of  time. 


28  THE    ART    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

I  was  almost  two  years  under  majority  at  the  time  and  considered  at  first  in  the 
light  of  an  apprentice,  but  the  requirements  to  be  met  in  the  organization  of  the 
mine  were  of  such  a  nature  and  the  executive  force  so  limited,  that  a  greater  respon- 
sibility was  put  into  my  line  of  duties,  and  I  thus  became,  at  an  early  age,  an  acting 
assistant  engineer.  The  working  out  of  the  new  arrangements  imparted  many 
useful  lessons. 

In  some  of  our  books  on  coal  mining  the  ventilation  is  proportioned  to  the  area 
of  the  mine ;  that  is,  a  certain  quantity  of  air  per  acre  of  mine  to  be  traversed  is 
allowed.  This  may  answer  well  enough  where  a  large  area  of  mine  is  standing  on 
pillars,  but  it  cannot  apply  to  working  faces  from  which  varying  quantities  of  coal 
are  mined  daily.  We  found  in  our  practice  that  as  we  increased  the  production  of 
coal  in  any  particular  district  it  became  imperative  to  increase  the  ventilating 
current  in  a  corresponding  manner,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  remember  that  the 
miner  picks  out  gas  as  well  as  coal  with  every  blow  he  strikes.  Although  there  was 
much  gas  in  the  mine  we  never  made  use  of  the  safety  lamp  in  any  but  the  broken 
workings.  Great  attention  was  given  to  the  state  of  the  returning  air  currents,  and 
the  proportion  of  gas  was  never  allowed  to  exceed  a  certain  amount  in  them,  and 
this  amount  being  but  two  per  cent,  was  so  far  from  the  point  which  forms  an 
explosive  and  dangerous  mixture  as  to  cause  no  apprehension  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  force  of  the  mine.  The  variations  of  gaseous  discharges  are  so  great 
that  no  rule  can  be  made  by  which  to  work  the  currents  in  the  different  districts. 
The  quantities  of  gas  given  off  alone  can  determine  this,  and  to  determine  the 
amount  of  gas  given  off  in  a  coal  mine  or  in  any  one  of  its  districts  requires  the 
skill  and  judgment  of  an  expert. 


THICK    COAL    SEAMS REMBLAIS    AND    LONG    WALL.  29 


CHAPTER   V. 

THICK  COAL  SEAMS— WORKING  OUT  COAL  IN  FRANCE  BY  REMBLAIS- IN  ENGLAND  BY  LONG  WALL. 

THERE  is  a  rule  among  mining  engineers  which  sets  the  yield  of  a  coal  seam  at 
one  thousand  tons  for  each  foot  in  thickness  per  acre,  ample  allowance  being  made 
for  waste.  At  this  rate  the  yield  must  be  immense  when  the  vein  is  upwards  of 
thirty  feet  in  thickness ;  and  in  many  instances  you  find  coal  seams  whose  thick- 
nesses are  between  twenty  and  thirty  feet,  and  these  are  the  thickness  of  some 
operated  in  Pennsylvania. 

In  Staffordshire.  England,  the  coal  seams  of  other  districts  have  run  into  one 
thick  seam ;  that  is,  the  slates  dividing  them  in  other  localities  have  in  their  cen- 
tering in  this  locality  gradually  become  so  thin  that  the  whole  series  of  coal  seams 
may  be  worked  as  one  thick  vein.  Our  own  Mammoth  coal  is  composed  of  several 
smaller  seams,  any  one  of  which  could  be  worked  apart  in  a  profitable  manner  were 
it  to  be  found  in  a  separate  state.  Sometimes  this  vein  contains  six  benches,  each 
having  some  particular  characteristics. 

In  France  there  are  coal  veins  of  great  thickness,  and  these  dip  at  high  degrees 
of  inclination.  After  many  experiments  and  much  experience  in  actual  mining,  the 
French  engineers  have  at  last  adopted  that  mode  of  working  which  they  distinguish 
by  the  name  of  remblais.  By  its  use  they  not  only  mine  out  the  whole  of  the  seam, 
but  they  are  enabled  to  stow  the  refuse  behind  the  working  faces,  and  to  preserve 
the  surface  intact  at  a  less  outlay  than  by  any  of  the  other  methods  they  have  used. 
This  is  accomplished  by  working  over  the  seam,  beginning  at  its  out-crop  horizon- 
tally and  by  packing  the  space  behind  the  working  faces  with  rubbish  and  stones, 
most  of  which  are  sent  down  from  the  surface,  the  balance  being  formed  of  the  refuse 
of  the  mine.  The  working  face  then  extends  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  slates,  and 
the  floor  is  formed  of  the  coal  underneath.  Props  are  set  to  secure  what  is  overhead 
until  the  remblais  has  been  laid,  when  all  the  timbers  that  can  be  taken  safely,  are 


30  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

drawn  out.  It  is  by  setting  props  closely  together  that  the  dratoing  of  timber  can 
be  performed  with  any  degree  of  safety.  The  packing  is  done  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  building  of  the  pillars  in  long  wall;  but  the  spaces  are  packed  with 
greater  care  to  make  it  as  unyielding  as  possible  when  subjected  to  the  great 
pressure ;  and  instead  of  being  limited  in  width  as  the  gateway  pillars  of  long  wall 
are,  they  extend  all  over  the  excavation  and  fill  it  up  entirely,  excepting  only  the 
timbered  roadways  used  to  convey  the  coal  to  the  surface.  Then  each  succeeding 
lift  has  for  its  roof  the  remblais  that  has  been  built  on  the  floor  of  its  predecessor, 
and  if  attention  is  paid  to  the  laying  of  the  undermost  layers,  little  trouble  is 
encountered  in  the  working  of  the  lower  faces ;  because  on  the  large  flat  stones  laid 
on  the  bottom,  the  matter  above  is  so  squeezed  by  pressure  as  to  form  an  excellent 
roof,  easily  kept  in  position  by  a  liberal  use  of  props  and  planks  and  broad  cap- 
pieces  ;  and  as  the  height  is  limited  to  two  metres — about  six  feet  six  inches — the 
process  of  timbering  is  easily  managed  by  two  men  working  together.  The  greatest 
care  must  be  taken  at  the  extremities  of  the  excavation,  and  the  packing  must  be 
well  rammed  in  to  insure  lateral  support.  Face  after  face  is  thus  worked  off  as  the 
work  progresses  downward  into  the  coal  vein,  the  light  gas  draining  upwards  as 
soon  as  liberated,  and  is  carried  off  by  ventilation  before  any  accumulation  can 
take  place.  Before  this  method  was  adopted  the  veins  were  divided  off"  by  a  series 
of  level  galleries,  each  of  which  served  to  get  out  the  pillar  of  coal  lying  above  it. 
But  it  was  found  that  the  loss  by  falls  of  roof  was  so  great  as  to  cause  this  system  to 
be  abandoned  and  that  of  remblais  to  be  instituted  in  its  place. 

In  the  thick  coal  of  Staffordshire,  work  by  long  wall  has  been  successfully 
instituted. 

The  coal  is  mined  in  long  wall  in  a  seam  less  than  six  feet  by  opening  a  face  of 
several  hundred  feet  in  length.  This  is  driven  forward  and  the  roof  is  kept  up  in 
the  chamber  formed  by  close  propping.  After  the  face  has  been  advanced  a  certain 
distance  and  the  weight  of  the  roof  begins  to  settle  on  the  props,  they  are  drawn  out 
by  the  whole  corps  of  deputies.  It  is  not  so  much  an  object  to  save  the  timber  in 
this  instance  as  to  get  down  the  roof.  As  soon  as  the  roof  falls,  roads  are  cut 
through  the  rocks,  and  pillars  on  each  side  are  built  up  to  that  layer  of  top  which 
has  not  fallen.  These  are  approached  by  openings  in  the  pillar  of  coal  opposite  to 


THICK    COAL    SEAMS REMBLAIS    AND    LONG   WALL.  31 

the  working  face,  termed  gateways,  which  are  equidistant  from  each  other,  and  the 
cuts  through  the  fallen  rocks  open  up  a  communication  with  the  coal  face  and  form 
a  continuation  of  the  gateway.  After  these  gateways  have  been  opened,  the  work 
of  advancing  the  wall  face  begins  at  once,  and  cast  iron  props  are  substituted  for  the 
wooden  ones.  During  the  night  a  set  of  picked  men  go  in  and  prepare  the  wall 
faces  for  the  hewers  and  coal  fillers  of  the  succeeding  day.  These  men  build 
portions  of  the  pillar  up  to  the  roof  at  each  side  of  every  gateway.  They  draw  out 
the  metal  props  the  most  remote  from  the  coal  face  and  reset  them  in  a  row  parallel 
and  close  up  to  it.  While  drawing  these  props,  if  there  is  danger  from  a  fall  to  be 
apprehended,  a  light  chain  is  fastened  to  the  props  as  they  are  knocked  out,  or  in 
case  of  the  roof  creeping  rapidly  down,  as  it  sometimes  does,  picked  out  by  the 
digging  away  of  the  crushed  stone  on  the  head  of  the  prop.  The  drawing  is  done 
by  one  man,  while  his  mate  attends  to  the  jerking  out  of  the  props  as  soon  as  they 
are  liberated.  But  these  men  know  at  what  point  the  roof  will  break  off  when  it 
falls,  which  it  seldom  does  so  suddenly  as  to  jam  them  or  maim  them,  although 
there  are  times  when  the  roof  falls  over  the  props  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  to  save 
them.  But  even  then  those  props  are  not  lost,  because  they  are  searched  for  by 
digging  and  are  hauled  out — when  any  of  them  are  found — by  the  use  of  a  lever  and 
chains. 

But  it  is  in  the  gateways  between  the  pillars  where  the  gateway  men  often 
receive  injuries  of  both  a  serious  and  a  fatal  nature. 

As  the  roof  crushes  down  it  squeezes  the  pillars  down  to  about  one-fourth  of 
their  original  height.  In  order  to  make  height  for  the  small  wagons  and  ponies  to 
and  pass,  a  certain  portion  of  the  roof  of  the  gateway  must  be  cut  away  every  night ; 
ufter  the  walls  have  been  prepared  ready  for  the  miners  to  work  at  on  the  following 
day,  the  gateway  men  employ  the  balance  of  what  time  they  may  have  on  hand 
before  quitting  time,  in  enlarging  and  securing  these  gateways.  At  some  of  the 
collieries  the  pillars  are  waxed  to  prevent  fresh  air  from  entering  the  grooves  and 
thus  promote  spontaneous  combustion,  which,  under  great  pressure,  has  in  many 
mines  set  in  and  accomplished  much  mischief.  The  wax  wall,  or  sealed  wall,  is 
formed  by  incorporating  tough  clay  with  the  pillars  as  they  are  being  built  on  the 


32  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

sides  of  the  gateway.  The  clay  becomes  so  thoroughly  compressed  as  effectually  to 
exclude  the  air  of  the  ventilating  current  passing  through  the  gateway. 

As  this  mode  of  mining  centralizes  itself  in  a  particular  locality,  from  which 
several  hundreds  of  tons  may  be  mined  daily,  as  many  as  fifty  to  one  hundred 
thousand  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute  are  required  to  keep  the  wall  faces  free  from 
dangerous  admixtures  of  explosive  gas.  The  roof  comes  down  generally,  after  the 
first  fall,  in  immense  slabs  which  lie  flat  on  the  floor  of  the  coal  seam,  and  the  main 
breaks  occur  in  lines  nearly  parallel  with  the  wall  face,  which  is  always  driven  on 
the  end  of  the  cleavage  in  order  to  make  the  best  WALL'S  END  or  lump  coal. 

When  the  coal  is  mined  in  the  Staffordshire  thick  seam  by  long  wall,  the  top 
seam  or  bench  is  taken  off  first,  and  the  roof  being  let  down  in  large  pieces,  forms 
the  roof  of  the  other  benches  as  they  are  successively  worked  off  one  after  the  other, 
until  finally  the  roof  and  floor  are  brought  together  face  to  face,  the  operations  in 
each  bench  being  so  nearly  the  same  as  to  render  further  description  unnecessary. 


SECTION  II. 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  MINING  OUT  COAL  BY  WHAT  IS  TERMED  THE 
BOARD  AND  PILLAR  SYSTEM. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

SHAFT  THROUGH  ENGLISH  COAL  MEASURES— WINDING  IN  SHAFT— ENGINE  PLANE— HORSE  ROADS. 

LET  us  descend  into  the  gaseous  coal  seam  called  locally  the  Hutton  Seam. 
This  seam  of  coal  is  one  of  the  lowest  worked  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field.  It  is 
sometimes  two  and  a  half  feet  in  thickness  and  at  others  four  and  a  half.  In  this 
part  of  the  seam  it  is  about  three  feet  six  inches.  We  shall  herewith  describe  one 
method  of  working  this  seam — that  known  by  the  name  of  BOARD  and  PILLAR. 

The  measures  incline  very  slightly,  the  dip  being  four  degrees  to  the  east. 
The  shaft  is  sunk  vertically  through  the  measures,  which  lie  so  evenly  and  are  so 
compact  that  their  upper  layers  of  strata  form,  in  many  places,  the  bottom  of  a 
reservoir  to  retain  the  water  and  quicksand  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  surface 
earths.  In  sinking  a  shaft  through  these  surface  earths,  much  difficulty  is  often 
encountered  on  account  of  the  activity  of  these  immense  beds  or  pools  of  quicksand 
so  thoroughly  impregnated  with  water.  As  we  descend  the  shaft  we  pass  through 
a  cylinder  of  cast-iron,  well  strengthened  by  ribs,  and  put  up  in  segments  and 
sections  to  suit  the  size  of  the  shaft  and  the  thickness  of  the  quicksand  bed.  The 
lower  part  of  this  cylinder  is  well  jointed  to  the  solid  stratum  which  supports  the 
saturated  quicksands.  We  descend  through  the  sandstones  (samples  of  which  you 
see  in  some  of  the  principal  buildings  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne),  and  then  the  slates 
and  rocks  and  coal  seams ;  those  seams  of  coal  termed  workable  being  the  Five 
Quarter,  the  Main  coal,  the  Maudlin,  the  Low-main,  and  the  Hutton  Seam.  The 
Harvey  and  other  seams  are  further  below.  At  the  bottom  we  find  the  "  onsetter" 
putting  the  full  tubs  into  the  cages,  which  have  double  decks  and  double  tracks  on 
each  deck.  The  cages,  therefore,  carry  four  tubs — small  wagons  which  hold  about 


34  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

ten  hundred  weight  of  coal  each,  and  the  facilities  for  hoisting  and  changing  the 
wagons  are  such  as  to  allow  four  full  wagons  to  be  landed  every  minute  during 
working  hours. 

Before  starting  away  from  the  bottom,  we  shall  wait  till  the  descending  cage 
lands  on  the  scaffolding  below  the  platform,  and  watch  the  onsetter  bump  out  the 
empty  wagons  descending  by  striking  them  with  the  full  ones  he  puts  in  their 
places.  Of  course  you  see  that  two  wagons  go  into  the  cage  at  the  same  time,  and 
that  the  onsetter  manages  one  of  them  while  his  assistant,  a  fellow  as  strong  and  as 
muscular  as  himself,  manages  the  other.  When  the  cage  strikes,  two  stout  boys 
stationed  on  an  opposite  side  loosen  the  catches — holding  the  empty  wagons  in  the 
cage — just  in  time  to  allow  the  empty  wagons  to  be  driven  out  by  the  blow  they 
receive  from  the  full  ones.  Then  the  catches,  which  have  held  the  empty  wagons, 
spring  up  and  secure  the  loaded  ones  in  their  proper  position  for  ascending  the  shaft 
with  safety.  The  operation  has  been  performed  with  an  expertness  astonishing  to 
those  who  do  not  habitually  witness  such  operations ;  but  quickly  as  it  has  been  done 
no  time  was  to  spare,  for  the  catches  have  hardly  struck  the  wagons,  before  the  lower 
platform  of  the  cage  is  raised  an  inch  or  two  above  the  platform  and  is  dropped  back 
on  the  Jceeps,  which  bring  the  tracks  of  the  cage  even  with  the  plane  of  the  platform 
on  which  other  loaded  wagons  are  ready  to  enter  the  cage  in  the  same  manner  as 
their  predecessors  have  done.  Then,  without  as  much  as  a  signal,  the  cage  starts 
off  with  its  freight  to  the  surface,  where  in  thirty  seconds  it  is  landed  on  the  keeps 
at  banJc,  where  an  operation  the  reverse  of  what  we  have  just  seen  is  performed. 

While  the  banksmen  are  "  banking  out"  and  dumping  the  wagons  into  the 
screens,  and  the  onsetters  are  getting  wagons  placed  in  readiness  for  the  descending 
cage  (for  we  desire  it  to  be  understood  generally  that  while  one  cage  is  ascending 
on  one  side  of  the  shaft  with  loaded  wagons  another  cage  is  descending  on  the  other 
with  the  empty  ones)  we  shall  look  around  us  before  we  go  further  into  the  mine. 

We  examine  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  a  humming  noise  we  hear  a  short  distance 
off.  We  find  it  to  proceed  from  a  system  of  sheaves  and  rollers  and  pulleys  which 
guide  a  wire  rope  on  to  the  drum  of  a  large  winding  engine.  The  engine  is  worked 
by  compressed  air,  and  its  duty  is  to  draw  trains  of  forty  wagons  at  a  time  up  an 
inclined  plane  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  per  hour,  more  or  less,  as  the  demand  on 


SHAFT   THROUGH    ENGLISH    COAL    MEASURES.  35 

the  services  of  the  engine  requires.  In  a  minute  the  train  arrives  and  is  landed  in 
the  full  track  of  a  siding,  and  the  rope  is  unhitched  automatically.  By  its  momen- 
tum the  train  runs  into  a  by-track,  having  a  slight  grade  towards  the  platform  of  the 
shaft,  and  there  it  comes  to  rest.  From  this  track  the  onsetter  receives  his  supplies 
of  loaded  wagons.  In  the  mean  time  the  rope  of  the  winding  engine  has  been 
hitched  to  a  train  of  empty  cars,  the  drum  of  the  engine  has  been  thrown  out  of 
gear,  and  by  gravity  the  train  is  descending  the  inclined  plane  (engine  bank)  of  the 
mine ;  the  motion  being  regulated  by  a  brake  attached  to  the  drum  of  the  winding 
engine. 

We  find  this  inclined  plane  or  engine  bank  to  be  over  one-third  of  a  mile  in 
length,  and  still  advancing  towards  the  boundary  "  on  the  dip"  of  the  mine  property. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  engine  plane  a  siding  is  made  sufficiently  long  to  collect  into 
engine  sets,  the  wagons  brought  out  of  the  districts  by  the  horses  and  the  larger 
ponies. 

The  height  of  the  engine  plane  is  but  four  feet,  and  the  height  in  the  siding 
and  horse  roads  is  not  less  than  five  feet  six  inches.  This  latter  amount  of  height  is 
made  by  cutting  up  the  bottom  rock. 

In  order  to  get  a  horse  into  the  levels,  he  is  tripped  over  on  to  a  truck  and 
lashed  securely  on  his  side,  when  he  is  run  as  a  passenger  down  the  engine  plane, 
and  released  at  the  bottom  of  it,  where  there  is  height  for  him  to  stand  up.  He  is 
then  set  to  work  in  the  levels  to  draw  the  coal  out  from  the  districts,  and  his  home 
is  in  stalls  cut  in  the  coal  strata  near  the  foot  of  the  engine  plane. 

The  mine  ponies,  some  of  which  are  so  small  as  to  be  able  to  work  in  a  height 
of  three  feet,  have  their  stables  near  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  and  they  scamper  oif  to 
them  after  their  work  is  finished,  running  pell  mell  through  the  low  passage  of  the 
engine  plane,  their  drivers  following  in  a  stooping  position. 


36  THE   ART   OF   COAL   MINING   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DISTRICT  AND  PANEL  WORKINGS— BOARDS  AND  ENDS  OF  COAL— WORKING  LEVELS- 
DISTRICT  DETAILS.* 

IN  the  mine  we  have  several  districts  formed  by  main  drifts  dividing  the  coal 
up  into  as  many  panels.  Each  panel  is  worked  independently;  that  is,  it  has  its 
own  set  of  hands,  and  is  ventilated  by  an  independent  current  of  air. 

*  Plate  I.  is  an  overman's  tracing,  and  it  shows  how  simply  the  excavated  parts  of  a  mine  may  be 
represented  by  mere  lines.  Such  tracings  are  the  working  plans,  and  you  will  often  find  them  in  the 
overman's  pocket  or  in  his  cabin.  When  they  become  obliterated  or  worn  out  from  constant  use,  they 
are  easily  replaced.  The  arrows  show  the  direction  of  the  ventilation.  The  doors,  the  stoppings,  and 
the  regulators  are  also  represented.  The  use  of  the  tracing  is  more  for  the  mine  than  the  office. 
Sections  of  mines  are  often  thus  shown. 

Plate  II.  is  more  descriptive;  and,  although  it  shows  all  its  excavations  to  be  advancing  and  to  be 
on  the  dip  side,  it  very  nearly  resembles  Plate  I.  in  its  details.  It  shows  the  manner  of  ventilation. 
It  does  not  show  any  connection  with  the  rise  side  workings.  In  a  deep  mine  worked  on  this  plan,  the 
shafts  are  always  carefully  located  in  regard  to  several  things.  If  the  shafts  are  nearer  to  the  boundaries 
on  one  side  of  the  property  than  on  another,  it  is  often  because  that  as  soon  as  those  boundaries  are 
reached  the  broken  can  be  commenced,  and  a  larger  yield  of  coal  obtained,  if  such  is  desirable.  The  air 
stoppings,  shown  by  broad  lines  drawn  across  the  ends  of  the  places  through  which  no  air  must  escape, 
show  how  the  air  inwardly  bound  is  confined  within  its  proper  channels.  The  air  crossings,  whose  use 
is  to  pass  the  foul  air  returning  from  the  workings  over  the  main  passages  which  are  conducting  the 
fresh  air  inwardly,  are  shown  in  their  proper  positions  near  the  entrances  of  each  district.  It  is  difficult  to 
conceive  how  air  could  be  split  extensively  in  any  mine  without  such  a  contrivance  as  the  air  crossing. 
The  main  crossing,  throwing  all  the  air  coming  from  the  south  side  of  the  main  roads,  is  generally 
situated  near  the  shafts  and  at  a  point  where  all  the  air  coming  from  the  rise  and  dip  unites  and  passes 
over  the  main  road  to  the  upcast  air  shaft.  When  pillars  are  left  of  great  width  in  the  broken,  the 
work  is  begun  by  splitting  the  pillars.  If  the  dip  is  moderate,  a  double  turn  is  laid  at  the  end  of  the 
pillar  to  be  operated  on,  and  juds  are  turned  off  to  the  right  and  left.  The  work  of  taking  out  pillars 
is  thus  concentrated,  and  all  the  coal  mined  is  transported  through  the  splitting  drift  within  the  pillar. 
To  understand  how  this  is  done,  we  would  refer  to  the  Plates  X.  to  XIV.  inclusive.  Plate  XI.  shows 
to  the  left  the  edges  of  the  strata  above  the  coal  seam,  from  which  the  roof  of  the  juds,  already  worked, 
have  broken  and  fallen.  You  see  the  props  under  the  roof  with  their  cap  pieces  intervening.  Plate 
XII.  represents  the  two  juds  and  the  two  branches  of  tramway  running  into  them.  By  removing  a 
portion  of  the  roof,  we  see  how  thickly  the  props  are  set  to  keep  the  roof  up  until  the  juds  are  completely 
worked  off. 


ELATE  11 


PJarL  of  BoardL  tmei  PfTLar  W7toZe  coaZ 

Jtippintf.  gGO  fteet    One  Jn&i. 
Whole  is  of  ticrriL  used,  to  vuUcn 
i/i  cua2-Tjtjibrvfeen-~by 


SnoJten  is  a  ter?n  app&ecL  to  -(he  operation 
vf'  -tYorTttnff  out 


DISTRICT   AND   PANEL   WORKINGS.  37 

The  plan  of  working  adopted  is  known  by  the  name  of  board  and  pillar,  or 
board  and  wall,  one  of  the  most  popular  methods  of  mining  we  know  of,  and  one 
which  the  working  miners  always  prefer.  It  has  its  advantages,  and  in  new  coal 
fields  where  skilled  miners  are  not  abundant  it  is  always  adopted,  although  in 
England  it  is  fast  giving  place  to  long  wall. 

The  cleavage  of  the  coal  runs  in  parallel  lines  almost  with  the  magnetic  north, 
and  its  facings  are  so  regular  and  so  well  defined,  that  the  flat  pieces  they  form, 
when  split  up,  are  so  like  boards  of  wood  that  the  term  board  has  been  used  in 
connection  with  them.  Hence,  any  mining  excavation  driven  across  the  facings  is 
said  to  be  going  boardwise,  while  those  driven  at  right  angles  to  them  and  on  the 
end  of  the  cleavage,  are  going  endwise  or  headwise.  The  terms  have  been 
corrupted  by  use,  and  we  hear  the  terms  botirdicays,  headicays,  and  endicays  to  take 
their  places  in  the  mine.  In  blocking  out  pillars,  however,  particular  attention  is, 
or  should  be,  paid  to  the  lines  of  cleavage ;  two  sides  of  a  pillar  are  parallel  to  the 
main  facings  of  cleavage,  while  the  other  two  are  parallel  to  each  other,  and  most 
frequently  at  right  angles  to  the  facings  of  cleavage.  The  dip  being  from  the  west  to 
the  east,  the  line  of  cleavage  north  and  south  indicates  that  to  block  out  the  pillars, 
excavations  are  driven  level  endwise,  which  are  intersected  at  certain  distances  by 
others  driven  up  or  down  the  incline  of  the  seam  and  across  the  facings.  The 
distances  apart  of  these  excavations  form  the  limits  and  boundaries  of  the  pillars. 
For  fuller  information  we  refer  to  the  descriptive  plans  illustrating  board  and  pillar 
workings. 

Plates  I.  and  II.  are  ideal  plans  of  board  and  pillar  workings  made  here  for  the 
purpose  of  illustration.  We  have  the  hoisting  shaft  in  line  with  the  main  wagon 
road  drift.  The  up-cast  air  shaft  and  the  pump  shaft  are  connected  with  the  air 
courses  and  water  levels  in  the  manner  shown.  All  the  working  places  excepting 
two  panels  to  the  south  in  the  overman's  tracing  are  shown  to  be  advancing,  and 
the  mine  is  shown  as  one  mainly  being  opened. 

After  the  shafts  have  been  sunk,  the  main  drifts  have  been  struck  off  and 
advanced,  as  shown  by  Plate  II..  to  the  dip.  Other  drifts  have  also  been  driven  to 
the  rise  in  a  corresponding  manner.  We  have  not  shown  the  rise  workings  in  this 
plan.  Then  a  great  advantage  in  using  this  mode  of  working  coal  mines  is  gained 


38  THE   ART   OF   COAL   MINING   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

by  the  facility  with  which  a  large  number  of  working  places  may  be  opened  within 
a  short  time  after  the  shafts  have  been  sunk.  By  working  mines  according  to  our 
ideal  plan  of  the  dip  side  workings  alone,  we  could  employ  one  hundred  miners  in 
the  "  whole"  coal,  and  these  should  mine  from  four  to  five  hundred  tons  of  coal  per 
day.  Also  a  panel  or  two  of  broken  coal  could  be  worked  to  double  the  out-put. 
If  the  same  number  of  places  were  opened  on  the  rise  and  the  same  number  of  men 
were  to  be  employed  in  them,  the  out-put  would  be  about  eight  or  ten  hundred  tons 
of  coal  per  day  from  the  "  whole"  workings ;  and  the  product  would  be  always  on 
the  increase  until  the  required  amount  of  business  was  done. 

Our  plan  shows  the  boards  to  be  driven  to  the  east.  This  would  not  be  a  good 
practice  to  follow  if  the  inclination  were  more  than  one  in  ten ;  because  the  greater 
portion  of  the  coal  would  be  mined  from  boards  driven  down  the  dip,  from  which 
the  coal  would  require  to  be  drawn  up  the  incline.  Yet  the  Shetland  pony  gets 
along  very  well  in  hauling  coal  from  places  having  a  dip  of  1  in  8.  To  avoid  this, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  push  the  horse  roads  forward  and  start  the  boards  off  these 
and  drive  them  to  the  rise,  using  brattice  to  ventilate  the  working  face  of  each. 
After  this  general  reference  to  the  Plates  I.  and  II.,  let  us  go  on  our  way  through 
the  mine  and  note  down  what  we  see  and  hear. 

We  have  said  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  engine  plane  is  a  long  siding  which  is 
used  to  collect  the  wagons  to  form  the  "  set"  for  the  engine.  It  is  not  at  the  bottom 
of  the  plane  alone  that  a  siding  is  provided  in  a  mine  that  is  more  extensively 
opened,  but  in  each  of  the  horse  drifts  leading  to  the  districts  we  find  one  provided 
for  a  similar  purpose,  and  by  means  of  switches  the  empty  "  set"  of  the  engine  plane 
may  be  exchanged  for  the  loaded  ones  collected  in  the  different  levels.  As  the 
districts  in  the  "  whole"  are  similarly  worked,  a  visit  to  one  of  them,  to  give  a 
minute  description  of  it,  will  serve  our  purpose  and  be  a  description  of  the  rest  also. 

Starting  from  the  siding  in  the  engine  bank,  we  turn  to  the  horse  road  leading 
to  the  south,  and  although  it  takes  us  to  a  newly  opened  district,  we  can  well 
understand  by  a  reference  to  it,  the  plan  of  working  the  whole  coal  by  the  once 
popular  board  and  pillar  system.  And  we  have  here  a  very  small  number  of  work- 
ing places,  only  eight,  counting  those  marked  at  A  and  B  in  Plate  II.  which  properly 
belong  to  the  district  west  of  it,  but  from  which  the  coal  mined  in  them  may  be 


DISTRICT    AND   PANEL   WORKINGS.  39 

taken  to  the  horse  road  by  the  holing  near  the  face  of  the  headways  in  which  the 
air  door  is  placed.  After  the  main  headway  D  has  been  connected  to  A  by  B,  a 
permanent  stopping  is  built  in  the  place  of  the  air  door  which  is  transferred  to  the 
newly  holed  board  B.  But  we  have  got  so  far  ahead  by  entering  the  district  thus, 
that  we  have  forgotten  to  point  out  the  air  crossing  near  the  main  drift.  Here  we 
simply  find  ourselves  under  a  common  brick  arch  well  cemented  and  made  air-tight 
at  the  point  where  it  joins  the  wall  sides  of  the  drifts  at  each  end  of  the  arch.  Plates 
II.  and  III.  show  the  form  of  air  crossing  used  in  the  English  mines.*  In  this 
country  a  crossing  may  very  readily  be  constructed  of  timber  in  a  more  substantial 
manner  than  when  of  brick.  However  we  are  under  this  crossing,  and  we  see  that 
an  air  current  is  entering  the  horse  road  and  passing  through  under  the  arch.  If 
we  trace  this  current  of  air  we  find  it  to  pass  into  the  face  of  the  horse  road,  and 
by  means  of  brattice  and  the  innermost  holing,  it  is  carried  into  the  faces  of  JE,  F, 
G,  H,  and  I,  and  then  it  passes,  after  ventilating  four  more  boards  and  one  head- 
way, as  shown  over  the  top  of  the  arch  or  air  crossing.  This  is  the  air  crossing 
which  takes  such  a  prominent  part  in  the  ventilation  of  coal  mines.  As  we  pass 
along  the  herse  road  we  see  the  drifts  stopped  off  from  each  other  at  all  points  of 
intersection  of  the  boards  with  the  horse  roads  by  the  air  stoppings,  whose  positions 
are  indicated,  as  samples  of  all  the  other  stoppings,  by  the  lines  drawn  across  the 
passages.  The  stoppings  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  keep  the  two  currents  of 
air,  ventilating  these  two  adjacent  districts,  apart  from  each  other,  and  these 
currents  may  be  traced  to  their  destinations  in  the  return  by  the  arrows  pointing 
out  the  direction  of  the  currents.  The  stoppings  to  the  east  of  the  horse  road  serve 
to  force  the  current  of  this  district  into  the  innermost  holing,  which  is  left  open 
to  allow  it  to  pass  into  the  working  places  of  the  district.  It  is  well  understood 
by  those  versed  in  practical  mining,  that  when  the  headways  D  and  E  are 
sufficiently  advanced,  thev  are  connected  bv  another  cross-hole  similar  to  that  now 

J  J  4 

seen  to  be  open  through  which  the  current  is  passing,  and  through  which  the 
largest  portion  of  the  current  would  pass  in  the  event  of  a  new  holing  ahead,  were 

*  Plate  III.  shows,  on  a  large  scale,  the  road  connections  to  the  main  tracks,  and  how  the 
ventilation  is  effected  by  means  of  the  air  crossing.  In  some  cases  air  crossings  are  made  of  boiler 
plate,  and  in  others  the  arches  are  packed  on  the  outside  to  prevent  them  from  being  blown  up. 


40  THE    ART    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

a  stopping  not  built  in  it  to  force  the  air  forward  to  the  newly  opened  connecting 
passage.  After  leaving  the  working  places  of  the  district,  the  current  passes  a 
REGULATOR,  which  may  be  of  any  contrivance  (a  door  for  instance)  that  will  allow 
the  contraction  or  enlargement  of  the  passage  to  be  effected  in  the  most  simple 
manner.  A  door  set  up  like  a  butterfly  throttle-valve  would  answer  well  as  a 
regulator. 

We  are  now  treating  the  air  current  as  we  would  a  fellow-passenger  who 
accompanies  us  on  a  journey  and  with  whom  we  wish  to  exchange  our  attentions  ; 
and  we  cannot  say  anything  in  this  place  scientifically  of  the  intricate  subject  of 
ventilation.  We  may  thus  become  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  working  the  air 
currents  in  mines  without  the  aid  of  that  algebraical  formula,  against  which  some 
people  are  so  strongly  prejudiced. 

Before  going  further,  we  must  say  a  word  of  the  Regulator.  It  is  a  throttle- 
valve  by  which  the  air  of  the  district  in  which  it  is  placed  is  regulated,  and  it  may 
be  opened  or  closed  to  cause  an  increase  or  a  decrease  in  the  quantity  of  air  flowing 
to  the  district  in  which  it  is  placed.  But  when  an  increase  is  effected  it  may  be 
observed  that  this  increase  is  obtained  at  the  expense  of  the  other  districts,  taking 
for  granted  that  no  corresponding  increase  of  the  main  current  descending  the 
downcast  shaft  is  effected  at  the  same  time.  However,  this  is  often  a  necessary  step 
to  be  taken  when  it  is  found  that  the  gas  generating  in  some  district  is  on  the 
increase,  and  more  than  it  is  in  another;  hence  the  necessity  for  the  use  of  the 
Regulator,  which  is  an  institution  that  has  grown  into  mine  ventilation  almost 
entirely  within  the  present  century.  And  of  its  uses  few  people,  even  those  who 
profess  to  understand  the  subject  of  mine  ventilation,  seem  to  have  more  than  a 
superficial  idea. 

"  The  Regulator  in  ventilation,"  says  one  who  knows,  "  can  be  only  understood 
appreciatively  by  one  who  obtains  a  close  practical  acquaintance  with  it.  A  violin 
can  be  better  understood  by  its  player  than  by  a  mere  musical  theorist.  It  is  thus  with 
the  Regulator  in  ventilation.  It  is  best  understood  by  those  who  operate  it.  Well, 
here  we  have  the  Regulator  placed  at  the  points  indicated  on  Plates  I.  and  II.,  and 
when  we  find  too  much  gas  in  the  current  at  those  points,  we  use  our  judgment  and 
open  the  regulator  to  allow  the  passage  of  more  air ;  and  on  our  next  visit  if  the  gas  is 


DISTRICT   AND   PANEL   WORKINGS.  41 

not  diluted  to  a  safe  degree  we  open  it  a  little  more;  and  so  on  until  we  are  satisfied 
with  the  result." 

How  we  ascertain  what  is  the  quantity  of  gas  in  the  air  we  would  like  well  to 
tell  our  readers ;  but  much  practice  in  this  is  required  to  become  an  expert  (and 
none  but  experts  on  so  important  a  point  should  be  allowed  to  apply  so  delicate  a 
test),  because  it  is  most  accurately  done  by  the  naked  flame  of  a  candle,  or  a  safety 
lamp  with  the  top  unscrewed.  But  such  tests  may  safely  be  made  by  almost  every 
deputy  overman  who  is  brought  up  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field.  He  acquires  the 
necessary  skill  by  his  everyday  practice  and  from  the  lessons  he  receives  from  his 
elders  and  superiors. 

After  we  call  your  attention  to  the  names  of  the  places  in  the  district,  we  may 
chat  with  the  deputy  in  charge  of  it  and  take  down  some  of  the  information  he 
gives  us. 

The  places  D  and  E,  Plate  II.,  are  the  main  headways  of  the  district,  and  they 
are  driven  in  pairs.  N,  just  starting  off  from  one  of  the  exploring  drifts  0,  is  a 
heading  or  wall  which  is  to  intersect  successively  the  boards  7,  H,  G,  and  F,  and 
those  others  intervening  also  which  have  been  set  off  and  are  driven  from  the  main 
headways.  The  intersections  are  made  for  the  purposes  of  blocking  out  pillars  and 
for  ventilation ;  and  where  the  gas  is  abundant  the  intersections  are  more  frequently 
made,  and  the  pillars  are  consequently  of  a  correspondingly  less  area,  which  is  not 
always  a  feature  to  be  desired,  as  it  exposes  the  sides  of  the  pillars  to  the  action  of 
the  air  and  reduces  their  strength  in  the  event  of  a  squeeze  or  crush,  whose  action  is 
locally  known  by  the  name  of  creep. 

We  are  again  in  at  the  district  siding  in  which  the  wagons  from  the  miners  are 
collected  in  sets.  The  wagons  are  brought  out  by  hand-putters  in  this  case,  and 
they  carry  ten  hundred  weight  each.  There  are  only  two  putters  at  this  district, 
and  we  will  see  how  the  deputy  places  their  work. 


42  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  DEPUTY'S  EXPERIENCE— DETAILS  IN  WORKING  AND  VENTILATING  A  DISTRICT. 

THE  deputy  of  the  district  is  a  muscular  fellow  with  an  intelligent  countenance. 
He  has  a  habit  of  addressing  every  one  in  a  suit  of  blue  flannels  as  master,  and  blue 
flannels  are  the  clothes  one  wears  in  the  entire  coal  field  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne  if  his 
position  is  above  that  of  deputy.  The  deputy's  suit  is  of  stiff  white  flannel  invari- 
ably. His  cap  is  of  strong  leather,  and  in  shape  not  unlike  that  of  a  horse  jockey. 

"  How  are  you  getting  on,  lads  V  we  ask. 

"  Oh,  I  'm  nicely,  maister,  thank  ye  !  and,  considering  that  we  are  just  opening 
out  work,  we  are  doing  finely." 

"  How  much  coal  are  you  sending  out  ?" 

"  Twelve  score  a  day,  more  and  less,"  he  answers. 

"  How  many  working  places  produce  this  amount  of  coal,  which,  if  I  am  right, 
is  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  a  day?" 

"  I  have  eight  working  places — three  headways  and  five  boards  all  in  the  whole 
coal — in  which  sixteen  men  work,  following  each  other  in  two  shifts ;  that  is,  eight 
men  come  in  at  3  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  the  other  eight  follow  at  10  A.  M." 

"  You  are  in  the  foreshift.     What  time  in  the  morning  do  you  arrive  V 

"About  2.30  A.  M.     I  have  time  to  get  around  the  places  before  the  miners 


come  in." 


"  Do  you  find  any  accumulation  of  gas  of  a  morning "?" 

"  Never  a  stagnant  accumulation ;  but  always  gas  in  admixture  with  the  air. 
The  gas  in  the  air  varies  much,  and  requires  close  watching." 

"  What  are  the  reasons  for  this  variation  1" 

"Sometimes  a  fall  of  the  barometer,  denoting  a  reduction  of  atmospheric  pressure, 
is  the  cause,  and  at  others  a  change  in  the  condition  of  the  coal  seam.  If  the  coal  gets 
a  little  soft  or  faulty  in  any  place,  the  yield  of  gas  increases  in  that  place.  It  may 
be  that  two  or  more  of  the  places  strike  such  coal  in  the  same  day ;  then  the  indi- 


A  DEPUTY'S  EXPERIENCE.  43 

cations  are  very  marked,  and  the  Regulator  must  be  resorted  to  and  shifted  in  a 
degree  to  correspond  to  the  increase  of  air  required  to  keep  the  district  safe,  and 
the  gas  sufficiently  diluted." 

"  How  do  you  know  that,  while  you  are  shifting  the  Regulator  in  such  an  event 
to  get  more  air  into  this  district,  you  are  not  reducing  the  quantity  in  the  other 
districts  to  so  great  an  extent  as  to  render  them  dangerous  ?" 

"  I  can  easily  ascertain  this  by  making  an  examination  of  the  currents  coming 
through  the  Regulators  from  the  other  districts.  But  in  the  case  of  a  sudden 
outburst  of  gas,  which  is  of  rare  occurrence,  except  when  we  plunge  suddenly  into 
faulty  coal,  we  have  plenty  of  time  to  consult  with  the  deputies  of  the  other  districts 
and  with  the  overman  before  we  need  shift  the  Regulator  at  all.  By  a  daily  report, 
we  are  enabled  to  compare  notes,  and  we  obtain,  by  doing  so,  a  good  idea  of  the 
condition  of  those  other  districts.  We  may  know,  if  we  like,  what  amount  of  gas  is 
given  off  in  each  district,  as  well  as  what  amount  of  air  is  in  circulation  in  it.  By 
averaging  the  percentage  of  gas  in  the  various  air  currents,  by  summing  them  up, 
we  may  find  out  the  total  amount  of  gas  given  off  in  any  coal  mine  where  the 
ventilation  of  it  has  been  reduced  to  a  regular  system." 

"  You  know  at  all  times  what  the  total  amount  of  air  in  circulation  is  in  the 
whole  mine  V 

"  We  have  a  tell-tale  anemometer,  near  the  main  intake,  which  gives  the 
strength  and  velocity  of  the  air  current.  We  know  the  area  of  the  passage  at  this 
point,  and  at  a  glance  each  morning,  as  we  pass,  we  are  advised  of  any  serious 
variation  in  the  amount  of  air  in  circulation.  The  variations  are  very  slight  indeed 
at  this  mine,  which  is  ventilated  by  the  new  fan  of  forty-eight  feet  in  diameter." 

"  How  do  you  measure  the  air  in  your  own  district  ?  Is  it  by  one  of  those 
revolving  and  recording  anemometers  1" 

"  No,  thank  you,  maister"  (our  deputy  smiles  sarcastically) ;  "  those  instruments 
are  for  apprentices  and  other  inexperienced  people  who  want  to  find  out  the  amount 
of  air  in  circulation,  for  some  purpose  which  is  not  exactly  practical.  But  when  we 
want  to  know  at  all  times  and  in  any  place  the  condition  of  our  air  current,  we  must 
have  some  readier  method  of  getting  the  information  than  that  afforded  by  one  of 
those  delicate  anemometers.  We  want  to  have  a  method  of  determining  such  an 


44  THE   ART   OF   MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

important  point  at  a  glance.  An  engineer  will  glance  at  his  steam  gauge  at  those 
times  when  the  working  of  his  engines  slacks  off.  If  his  steam  is  all  right,  his 
engine  is  at  fault,  and  demands  his  attention.  If  a  serious  reduction  in  the  velocity 
of  an  air  current  were  to  take  place,  there  are  some  men  who  declare  they  can  feel 
that  such  a  thing  has  occurred.  It  is  a  sensation  which  grows  on  a  man,  whose 
chief  daily  duties  are  very  much  concentrated  in  the  care  of  an  air  current,  if  we 
may  apply  such  a  term.  I  have  heard  a  marine  engineer,  in  charge  of  an  ocean 
steamer,  say  that  he  could  tell  to  a  pound  per  inch  what  pressure  were  in  his  boilers 
if  he  had  a  small  leak  in  his  steam  connections,  or  if  he  could  hear  the  water  or 
steam  escape  at  the  opening  of  the  boiler-gauge  cocks.  I  think  it  is  the  same  with 
myself  and  mates  in  regard  to  an  air  current  to  whose  action  we  are  daily  exposed, 
and  whose  motions  we  are  constantly  watching,  in  order  to  detect  any  accidental 
variations  of  it.  I  fancy  it  is  a  sensation  which  gives  us  a  notice  to  try  the  air  when 
we  seem  to  have  half  forgotten  this  important  part  of  our  duty.  I  have  on  two  or 
three  occasions  advanced  from  a  point  where  the  full  current  of  air  was  working  to 
another  where  the  current  was  slack,  and  have  not  gone  more  than  a  few  steps — 
even  with  a  preoccupation  of  mind  and  when  in  a  hurry  to  get  after  some  other 
business  —  before  I  have  detected  the  fact  of  something  being  amiss.  On  one 
occasion  of  this  kind,  on  examination  I  found  the  cause  to  be  from  an  injured 
stopping,  on  another  an  injured  brattice.  Of  course  the  leaks  in  each  were  very 
considerable,  and  the  gas  had  accumulated  in  certain  places  sufficiently  to  render 
the  air  in  them  explosive." 

"  Then  you  object  to  the  use  of  the  revolving  anemometer,  and  trust  much  to 
your  sensations  and  experience  V 

"Not  altogether;  good  instruments  may  be  used  where  very  nice  measurements 
are  required.  But  then  at  least  two  instruments  should  be  used,  the  one  to 
correct  the  imperfections  of  the  other ;  and,  in  case  of  their  disagreement,  a  third 
instrument  should  be  used.  It  is  very  likely  that,  for  everyday  use,  our  old 
reliable  tell-tale  anemometer  will  keep  its  old  place  at  some  prominent  corner 
where  its  action  can  be  seen  by  all  passers  concerned  in  the  safety  of  the  coal 
mine.  You  see  this  one,  which  I  keep  stationed  here,  gives  me  all  the  informa- 
tion I  require  of  the  ingoing  current  of  air.  (See  Plate  IV.)  Its  vibrations 


PLAT'S 


I  SlllIHIIHa!! 

f^Epj  w*~'**i '.'         -*•   . 

2 :  v^ "      "  - 

^     &.J.44     «  i 


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i 

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A  DEPUTY'S  EXPERIENCE.  45 

are  produced  by  the  motion  of  the  engine  trains  and  sets  of  wagons  moving  in 
remote  parts  of  the  mine ;  but  there  is  a  point  at  which  it  inclines  always  to  be 
stationary  when  not  influenced  by  the  partial  blocking  up  of  the  passages  by  the 
wagons  and  by  an  accidental  blockade  caused  in  the  main  roads  intercepting  the 
air  currents,  either  through  falls  of  roof  or  blockades  formed  through  a  train  of 
wagons  getting  off  the  track.  At  such  times,  which  are  denoted  by  the  irregular 
motions  and  varying  positions  of  the  tell-tale,  the  closest  attention  is  required  in 
those  districts  where  we  have  copious  discharges  of  gas;  and  at  such  dangerous 
interruptions  of  the  current  this  simple  tell-tale  gives  due  notice,  being  attached  to 
an  alarm  which  jingles  off  and  demands  immediate  attention.  The  figure  in  Plate 
IV.  shows  this  simple  form  of  anemometer."* 

"  Supposing  a  reduction  of  the  air  current  were  to  be  indicated  here  at  the 
present  time,  how  would  you  know  whether  the  cause  was  by  a  blocking  up  of  the 
air  courses  inside  of  us  or  outside  of  us  V 

"  Some  people  can  tell  by  the  whistling  of  air  through  a  small  leak  in  an  air 
stopping.  In  case  of  a  blockage  occurring  inside  of  any  particular  stopping,  the 
whistling  of  the  air  through  the  leak  is  augmented.  We  soon  get  used  to  the 
music  of  any  particular  leak,  and  by  a  proper  attention  to  it  we  may  be  advised  of 
the  locality  of  any  serious  blockade  in  the  air  course.  This  fact  has  led  to  the  use 
of  the  water-gauge,  which  is  a  bent  glass  tube,  having  a  contracted  passage  at  the 
bend  to  prevent  oscillation.  When  this  instrument  is  applied  to  a  stopping  so  that 
one  of  its  tubes  is  fitted  to  a  pipe  passing  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  stopping, 

*  Plate  IV.  The  deputy,  of  whom  much  mention  lias  necessarily  been  made  in  the  text.  Our 
sketch  shows  him  as  he  comes  out  to  the  station  each  morning  after  he  has  left  the  men  at  work  and 
paid  attention  to  some  of  the  most  dangerous  and  other  places  requiring  his  services.  He  now  comes 
out  with  his  homey  tram,  which  he  is  to  throw  off  ihe  track  out  of  the  road  until  it  is  further  needed. 
He  will  place  the  lads'  work  and  wait  until  he  sees  them  start.  This  they  do  at  once  and  with  a  race 
as  soon  as  they  come  in  and  strip  and  have  their  work  read  off  to  them  after  their  cavils  have  been 
drawn.  We  present  the  deputy  with  his  vest  and  overshirt  on,  which  he  wears  in  spite  of  the  heat  and 
dust  which  cause  him  to  perspire  so  much.  But  then  the  vest,  which  contains  two  capacious  pockets,  is 
an  indispensable  article  of  clothing,  and  is  as  necessary  to  our  deputy  as  the  tools  he  carries,  inasmuch  as 
those  strong  pockets  are  crammed  with  the  "plate"  nails  he  uses  or  leaves  in  the  miners'  places,  samples 
of  which  you  see  in  the  bottom  of  the  horney  tram  !  The  deputies  are  picked  from  the  best  men  of  a 
colliery.  They  are  good  workmen  in  all  cases.  In  some  cases  they  become  students  of  the  art  of 
mining,  and  from  their  ranks  are  furnished  very  generally  the  chief  overmen. 


46  THE    ART    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

the  water  rises  in  fone  of  the  legs.  The  difference  in  level  marks  the  resistance 
encountered  by' the  air  current  while  travelling  in  from  a  point  on  the  outside  of 
the  ~stopping_to  the  workings,  and  then  returning  to  the  point  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  air  stopping  at  which  the  instrument  is  applied.  A  variation  in  this  gauge 
shows  very  often  the  way  to  an  air  blockade." 


PLAIT: 


THE   PUTTER.  47 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PUTTER. 

"  BUT  you  have  other  duties  of  an  important  nature  to  attend  to  besides  those 
in  which  the  ventilation  of  the  mine  is  concerned  V 

"  Certainly  ;  we  have  the  roof  of  the  roads  to  attend  to  and  examine,  and  props 
to  set  at  the  face  of  the  boards,  and  the  road  to  lay  after  the  mining  faces,  and  the 
tracks  to  keep  in  good  repair  to  keep  these  wild  putters  in  their  proper  senses." 

"Ah  !  I  see  you  have  a  whole  list  of  information  to  give  me !  Let  us  classify 
it,  please,  and  begin  first  with  this  interesting  feature,  the  putter,  who,  in  spite  of  his 
light  cotton  cap,  his  sleeveless  body  shirt  and  little  breeches,  strong  shoes,  hoggers 
and  shoe  clouts,  is  in  a  lather  of  sweat ;  he  cannot  be  passed  by  with  merely  a 
passing  notice."  (For  sketch  of  putter  see  Plate  V.) 

"  Oh,  yes,  maister,"  sighs  the  deputy,  "  these  lads  are  very  trying  at  times  with 
their  unreasonable  demands  on  my  time  and  attention.  But  their  task  is  a  severe 
one,  and  they  have  good,  willing  hearts,  rendering  their  services  in  the  most 
generous  manner.  We  can  forgive  them  all  their  saucy  reproaches  and  mischievous 
tricks.  Their  muscles  are  being  hardened  for  the  work  of  the  hewer  of  coal,  which 
is  even  more  severe  than  the  work  they  now  perform,  which  is  fast  becoming  the 
work  of  the  little  Shetland  pony,  who  with  his  driver  is  at  the  best  only  equal  to 
one  of  these  muscular  half-naked  lads.  I  had  a  lad,  maister,  lost  at  an  explosion  of 
gas  at  the  Haswell  Colliery,  and  I  cannot  see  my  putters  here  without  thinking  of 
the  putter  I  have  lost  myself.  He  was  a  promising  lad!  The  '  Call  for  the  deputy; 
there  's  a  plate  loose,'  only  stimulates  me  to  perform  a  simple,  but  not  an  unim- 
portant part  of  my  duty.  It  is  certainly  aggravating  to  a  putter  when  his  wagon 
runs  off  the  way  at  a  bad  joint  or  a  loose  plate.  It  requires  a  pair  of  good  strong 
arms  to  lift  one  of  these  tubs  carrying  ten  hundred  weight  each  on  to  the  road  again. 
Yes,  I  '11  tell  you  of  the  putter,  maister. 

"  After  I  have  set  the  men  to  their  work,  and  have  given  attention  to  the 


48  THE   ART   OF   MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

most  dangerous  places  of  a  morning,  the  lads  come  in  clamoring  for  the  work  to 
be  placed,  and  the  cavils  to  be  drawn.  Here  I  have  only  two  putters ;  but  I  shall 
speak  of  them  as  we  have  them  in  a  large  district,  where  there  are  half  a  dozen  of 
them.  You  see  this  blackboard  on  which  we  put  the  miners'  name  in  initials,  or 
numbers  in  a  vertical  column,  in  the  order  of  their  remoteness  from  the  district. 
We  put  opposite  to  each  miner's  name  the  number  of  wagons  we  allow  to  be 
mined  in  his  place  per  day.  Thirty-two  for  the  boards,  and  twenty-four  for  the 
walls.  These  numbers  form  a  column  of  figures  which  we  sum  up  and  divide 
by  the  number  of  putters  we  have.  Here  we  have  four  walls  and  five  boards, 
and  the  sum  reaches  256.  This,  divided  by  2,  gives  our  two  putters  a  day's  work 
of  six  score  and  four  each,  which  to  get  out,  keeps  them  almost  constantly  on 
their  legs.  Now,  as  some  of  the  places  are  much  nearer  than  others,  we  place  the 
putters'  work  in  the  following  table.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  third  column  gives 
the  first  putter  all  the  work  mined  in  the  two  nearest  places,  with  eight  in  the  third 

Miners'  places  in  the  Number  of  wagons  of       First  putter's        Second  putter's 
order   as  they  are  coal  to   be   cut   in  work.  work, 

remote    from     the  each  place, 

district  siding. 

II  32  32 

2  C  24  24 

3D  24  8  1C 

4  B  24  ..  24 

5  E  24  ..  24 

6  A  32  ..  32 

7  G  32  ..  32 

8  H  32  32 

9  F  32  32 

2)256 

128 

nearest  place.  It  shows,  also,  that  he  gets  all  the  work  of  the  two  farthest  off 
boards.  Thus,  he  brings  the  coal  from  the  nearest  and  farthest  off  miners  to  the 
extent  of  one-half  of  his  work  in  each  case.  The  second  putter  takes  the  coal  of 
the  other  places  which  are  closer  together,  and  are  neither  the  farthest  away,  nor 
the  nighest  at  hand.  In  this  manner  the  work  may  be  fairly  placed,  if  there  were 


THE   PUTTER.  49 

a  dozen  of  putters  in  the  district.     The  letters  have  reference  to  those  of  Plate  II., 
and  they  represent  the  places  constituting  the  district. 

"  Have  you  trouble  occasionally  by  '  using'  this  tabulated  form  of  '  placing'  or 
of  arranging  the  work  of  a  district  1" 

"  Little  with  the  older  boys,  who  read  off  their  work  as  soon  as  it  is  placed,  and 
as  soon  as  they  remember  what  are  the  amounts  of  tubs  they  get  at  the  different  places, 
they  start  off  at  once  with  their  wagons,  the  first  putter  taking  the  first  empty  wagon 
in  to  some  of  his  men.  At  this  district  they  are  allowed  spare  wagons,  technically 
called  '  led  tubs,'  which  each  putter  runs  into  his  men  as  quickly  as  he  can,  taking 
only  one  at  a  time.  When  these  '  led  tubs'  are  all  taken  into  the  faces  of  the  work- 
ing places,  the  daily  routine  of  work  begins.  Each  lad  takes  his  empty  wagon  into 
the  turn-off,  at  the  end  of  the  board  or  wall  he  goes  to,  and  brings  out  the  spare 
wagon  which  the  miner  has  filled.  A  strong  putter,  well  skilled  in  the  handling 
of  his  tnbs,  will  come  out  of  the  board  with  a  run,  and  on  coming  around  the  curve 
of  the  turn-off,  whose  radius  is  (for  this  gauge  of  twenty-one  inches)  for  the  short 
curve  only  three  feet,  he  grasps  the  empty  wagon  with  one  hand,  and  pulls  it  back 
to  the  points ;  and  often,  without  stopping  his  full  tub,  will  start  the  empty  one  into 
the  board  with  a  run,  singing  out  for  the  hewer  to  '  catch  her,'  while  he  runs  after 
his  loaded  tub,  still  in  motion,  and  starts  off  with  all  his  might  along  the  headway's 
course,  wheeling  around  the  curve  and  through  the  stenton,  and  from  the  stenton 
into  the  mother-gate,  or  main  headway's  course ;  and  through  this  into  the  district 
siding,  joining  up  against  the  train  collecting  into  a  horse's  set.  He  then  takes  the 
first  empty  wagon  in  the  empty  track  of  the  siding,  and  puts  his  tally  or  token  on 
a  staple  driven  in  one  of  the  corners  inside ;  and  he  starts  off  again  to  put  another 
tub.  To  avoid  collision  with  another  putter  coming  out  he  '  calls'  at  every  few  steps, 
and  runs  as  fast  as  he  can,  to  get  into  a  turn-off,  or  to  his  destination,  before  he 
meets  any  one  to  bother  him." 

"  But  have  you  never  any  serious  accidents  from  collision  I  The  lads  seem  to 
run  off  in  reckless  haste." 

"  We  seldom  have  anything  worse  than  a  stunning  blow.  A  lad  may  be  run- 
ning l  in  by'  in  a  heedless,  half  sleepy  manner,  with  his  empty  tub,  when  he  is 
surprised  and  wakened  up  by  another  lad  running  out  with  a  full  one.  Of  course, 

7 


50  THE    ART    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

the  tubs  join,  and  it  is  the  empty  one  that  rebounds ;  and  if  the  lad  going  in  with 
the  empty  tub  be  not  on  guard,  and  have  not  his  arms  rigidly  set  against  his  tub, 
then  his  head  is  bumped,  and  almost  driven  in  between  the  shoulders.  You  see  the 
barrow-way  (a  term  we  apply  to  the  track  laid  on  the  bottom  slate,  before  it  is  cut 
up  for  a  horse  road)  is  made  just  high  enough  for  the  tub  to  clear  the  roof,  with  a 
few  inches  to  spare ;  and  the  tub  being  only  three  feet  in  height,  causes  the  putter 
to  run  in  a  stooping  position,  with  his  body  nearly  parallel  with  the  roof  of  the  coal 
seam  ;  for  this  reason,  his  head  is  in  a  bad  place,  in  the  event  of  collision.  But  the 
neck  feels  the  force  of  the  blow,  and  suffers  the  most  from  it." 

"  Putters  are  not  often  injured,  I  have  noticed.  How  do  you  account  for  the 
fact?" 

"  I  cannot  tell.  I  think,  however,  that  their  occupation  awakens  them  to  a 
sense  of  danger  for  which  they  are  almost  constantly  on  the  watch.  They  take 
heed  generally  as  they  go  in  by,  that  they  do  not  come  in  contact  with  those  coming 
out.  They  have  an  eye  to  every  place  end  they  pass,  out  of  which  a  putter  with  a 
full  tub  might  pop  on  them  at  any  minute.  Wagons  of  putters  very  often  get 
jammed  together,  but  seldom  unawares  of  the  putter,  if  he  have  a  quick  ear ;  and  I 
do  not  think  any  one  with  a  slow  ear  would  answer  the  purpose  of  a  putter  at  all. 
He  could  not  escape  having  his  neck  broken.  But  there  are  no  deaf  putters,  and 
there  are  no  lame  or  unsound  putters.  These  could  not  do  the  work,  which  you  see 
is  of  the  most  severe  kind  we  have  in  the  coal  pit.  They  must  be  sound  in  wind 
and  limb.  Woe  be  to  him  who  is  not,  and  takes  up  the  craft.  Very  often  when 
boys  are  scarce,  some  of  those  tramps  coming  along,  seeking  employment,  are 
tried ;  but  not  one  in  ten  ever  succeeds  or  stays.  They  get  on  the  barrow-way 
with  an  empty  tub,  and  they  seldom  ever  reach  their  destination  before  they 
get  faint-hearted,  and  give  up  putting  as  a  bad  job.  They  meet  with  the  putters 
coming  out,  and  are  glad  to  get  into  a  roll  off,  or  a  siding  out  of  the  way  of  the 
practised  putter,  and  his  jeers." 

"  The  putters  do  not  go  to  the  same  places,  and  get  coal  of  the  same  miners 
every  day,  without  changing  their  routes,  or  ranks,  or  sheaths  ?" 

"  Every  morning  we  put  in  cavils,  which  decide  the  slieath  of  each  putter. 
Putting  in  cavils  is  often  done  in  this  simple  manner :  We  take  as  many  plate  nails 


THE   PUTTER.  51 

as  there  are  putters  at  a  station.  We  mark  numbers  on  each  of  the  broad  heads 
of  the  nails,  and  then  put  the  whole  in  the  cap  of  one  of  the  lads,  and  shake 
them  up.  Then  each  of  the  putters  draws  a  nail  from  the  cap,  and  the  sheath  of 
each  is  determined  by  the  number  on  the  head  of  his  nail.  In  the  table  we  have 
shown  for  example,  there  are  but  two  sheaths,  or  sheaths  first  and  second.  First 
sheath  takes  the  work  set  in  the  first  column.  The  second,  the  work  in  the 
remaining  column.  But  with  more  putters  and  hewers,  this  method  of  placing  the 
work  is  simply  extended.  This  is  the  method  adopted  in  the  entire  Coal  Field 
of  Durham  and  Northumberland." 

"There  are  various  ways  of  drawing  the  cavils,  and  when  there  is  supposed  to 
be  a  preference  in  the  sheaths  which  can  only  be  slight  in  any  case,  there 
are  several  ingenious  ways  of  cheating  adopted  among  the  lads,  in  order  to  get 
it.  For  instance,  in  case  of  the  nails  being  used,  some  of  the  innocents  will 
slyly  get  the  nail,  with  the  number  of  the  rank  he  covets  marked  on  it,  and 
with  his  candle  heat  it  slightly  on  the  head,  or  point,  or  otherwise,  and  then 
he  endeavors  to  be  of  the  first  to  draw ;  when,  of  course,  he  takes  out  the  heated 
nail." 

"  You  see  by  the  plan  that  some  of  the  places  are  very  much  nearer  to  the 
station  than  others.  This  is  the  cause  of  another  kind  of  trickery  among  the  putters, 
few  of  whom  are  entirely  honest  in  regard  to  it.  For  instance,  it  so  happens  that 
the  putters  of  the  first  and  second  sheaths  get  each  a  certain  number  of  wagons  in 
some  of  the  near  places.  There  are  no  means  of  telling  how  many  each  putter 
actually  gets,  except  the  miner  takes  the  trouble  of  keeping  an  account  in  his  mind, 
which  he  seldom  does  in  a  near  place,  because  he  is  almost  certain  to  get  all  the 
wagons  he  needs,  even  when  work  goes  slowly  with  the  sets.  The  consequence  is 
that  each  putter  will  get  as  many  as  he  can  in  those  near  places,  and  watch  eagerly 
the  filling  of  the  near  coals.  The  miner  in  the  second  near  place  has  often  his  work 
divided  between  the  two  putters  of  the  first  and  second  sheath,  and  these  will  seldom 
if  ever  pass  the  place  to  go  farther  if  the  spare  tub  is  filled  in  this  place.  The  miner 
is  pestered  beyond  the  limits  of  his  patience  by  the  cry  of  '  Is  she  full,  hinny  V  Of 
course  these  putters  dispute  about  the  number  they  get  in  such  near  places,  each 
one  declaring  that  the  amount  is  less  than  what  he  has  actually  received.  It  is  the 


52  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

reverse  of  this  when  a  place  '  far  off'  is  concerned.  This  is  one  of  the  chief  causes 
of  dispute.  But  if  a  hewer  in  a  '  far  off'  place  does  not  get  his  coal  brought  out  and 
does  not  get  his  share  (shift)  with  the  other  men,  the  putter  must,  by  an  established 
rule,  pay  for  the  deficiency,  if  it  has  been  on  account  of  his  neglect.  But  the  rule 
is  not  always  strictly  enforced,  which  depends  on  the  generosity  of  the  miner  who 
has  suffered  a  loss  by  such  negligence.  A  few  threats  on  the  part  of  the  miner 
terminate  the  business,  when  all  he  receives  for  his  pains  are  the  saucy,  careless 
retorts  of  the  regardless  boys,  who  have  been  the  cause  of  his  wrong  a'nd  justly  the 
subjects  of  his  wrath." 

"  In  case  of  jumping  the  track  with  a  full  tub,  how  do  these  boys  proceed  to 
put  it  on  the  road,  considering  them  to  be  so  heavy?  Ten  hundred  weight,  I  see,  is 
the  weight  they  carry." 

"  Well,  you  see  the  wheels  are  ten  inches  high,  and  they  are  placed  so  near  to 
each  other  that  a  weight  of  200  pounds  put  on  either  end  of  a  loaded  wagon  will 
overbalance  it.  Now,  these  boys,  after  a  little  practice,  can  lift  this  weight  where 
the  ground  is  level,  or  nearly  so.  If  the  tub  is  on  the  main  headways,  he  always 
gets  a  lift  from  the  putter  or  putters  he  blocks  in  or  out.  If  no  putters  go  the  same 
route,  he  manages  to  get  his  tub  on  the  track,  if  not  by  a  direct  heave,  by  the  aid 
of  a  loose  plate  which  he  uses  as  a  lever.  In  such  cases,  however,  he  does  not  spare 
the  deputy ;  he  rates  him  with  all  the  vehemence  of  his  pitmatic  eloquence,  and 
hard  passionate  words  escape  from  his  organs  of  speech.  We  forgive  them,  when 
we  remember  that  we  were  putters  ourselves,  and  that  the  severe  strain  required  on 
the  muscular  system  by  lifting  till  one  sees  stars  and  scintillations,  so  excites  the 
mind  that  a  poor  fellow  hardly  knows  what  he  does  say,  when  hindered  by  jumping 
a  rail.  We  know  that  in  a  few  minutes  the  crying  and  swearing  and  passionate 
exclamations  are  all  forgotten  after  the  plate  has  been  replaced  and  secured.  But  a 
great  deal  of  difference  exists  among  the  boys  regarding  their  skilful  methods  of 
handling  a  full  tub.  Some  remember  every  bad  joint,  or  uneven  place  in  the 
barrow-way  after  they  have  passed  over  it  a  few  times,  and  running  at  the  top  of 
their  speed,  a  twist  to  one  side  or  another  will  enable  one  putter  to  pass  over  a 
piece  of  bad  road  successfully  for  a  whole  day,  while  another  putter  will  not  pass 
over  with  a  single  tub  without  tumbling  off  the  track ;  and  we  hear  more  noise 


THE   PUTTER.  53 

made  by  the  crying  and  swearing  of  these  than  we  do  from  those  who  use  patience 
and  reason  to  aid  them  in  their  physical  endeavors.  But  they  all  get  aggravated 
at  the  fact  of  getting  off  the  track.  The  deputy,  as  I  have  said  already,  is  not 
spared  when  a  loose  plate  is  the  cause.  But  our  best  policy  is  to  humor  the  boys, 
and  pacify  them  in  the  best  manner  we  can ;  it  is  the  only  way  to  get  the  work 
along  smoothly." 


54  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  HEWER  AND  HIS  WORK. 

WE  now  pass  into  the  barrow-way,  and  go  into  the  pair  of  drifts  called  the 
leading  or  main  headways.  These  are  the  places  D  and  E,  Plate  II. 

The  barrow-way  is  laid  on  the  floor  of  the  seam,  or  in  a  narrow  cut  of  a  few 
inches  in  depth,  to  allow  the  tubs  to  pass,  with  a  few  inches  to  spare,  above  them. 
We  find  the  hewer  drilling  in  the  face  of  the  main  headway's  course.  His  "  jud" 
is  curved  (undermined),  and  the  side  is  nicked,  to  allow  the  blast  to  topple  over 
the  coal  with  greater  facility.  The  chief  requisites  of  a  good  miner  are  the 
ability  to  deal  accurately  a  sharp  blow,  and  to  direct  each  blow  of  the  pick  with  such 
judgment  as  to  cause  each  stroke  of  the  pick  to  remove  as  much  of  the  coal  as 
possible.  It  is  evident  that,  if  a  miner  takes  too  much  of  a  hold  with  the  point  of 
his  pick,  the  portion  will  not  yield ;  therefore,  a  couple  of  more  blows  may  be 
required  to  effect  the  object.  Those  blows  being  the  miner's  capital  stock,  if  wasted, 
will  be  equal  to  a  certain  waste  of  time  and  labor,  and  will  represent  a  certain  loss 
which  should  be  avoided.  The  greatest  portion  of  his  skill  may  be  said  to  consist 
in  the  handling  of  his  picks.  By  constant  practice,  he  soon  may  become  an  expert 
in  the  use  of  them.  Then,  in  such  coal  a  little  judgment  is  required  in  the 
management  of  the  blasts. 

Our  Plate  VI.*  shows  the  miner  at  work,  nicking  his  jud,  preparing  it  for  the 

*  THE  HEWER  OR  COAL  MINER. — In  Plate  VI.  we  find  the  hewer  cutting  a  niche  in  his  already 
undermined  face  of  his  board-room.  He  terms  the  operation  nicking  his  jud.  A  pick  is  a  tool  despised  by 
a  number  of  fine-fingered  people,  but  it  is  as  useful  as  it  is  primitive.  Without  we  had  those  to  use  picks, 
it  would  be  of  no  avail  to  use  the  pen.  We  have  presumed  that  the  mine  in  which  our  miner  works  is 
well  ventilated.  We  have  not  shown  the  brattice,  usually  put  into  a  board-room,  to  throw  the  air  into 
the  face.  This  would  interrupt  the  view.  But  usually,  a  brattice  of  thin  boards  or  canvas  is  nailed 
to  a  row  of  props  set  close  to  the  rail  of  the  tramway.  The  brattice  projects  into  the  headway's  course 
so  as  to  catch  a  portion  of  the  air  coming  into  that  passage,  and  it  is  deflected  into  the  board-room  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  carry  off  the  gas  generated  there  as  fast  as  it  escapes  from  the  pores  of  the  coal, 
as  it  is  literally  being  dug  out  by  the  miner's  pick.  Therefore,  our  miner  is  working  by  the  naked 


THE    HEWER    AND    HIS    WORK.  55 

blast.  The  mining  or  curving  is  shown  to  have  been  effected  in  the  excavated  part 
of  the  face,  near  the  floor  of  the  seam.  Another  view,  Plate  XVII.,  shows  the 
board  room  with  its  timber  and  its  tracks. 

The  headways  go  in  the  direction  of  the  cleavage,  and  the  coal  coming  from 
them  forms  the  wall's-end  we  read  of  in  the  lists  of  the  London  coal  markets. 
They  are  driven  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  wide,  and,  generally,  are  pushed  forward 
faster  than  other  places. 

In  our  Plate  II.  we  have  shown  three  pairs  of  main  headways  to  be  in  progress  on 
each  side  of  the  main  drifts  or  mother  gates.  In  actual  mining,  the  headways  are 
driven  in  pairs  apart  from  each  other  at  various  distances,  seldom  exceeding  two 

light  of  a  candle,  which  you  see  sticking  on  the  wall  side  to  his  right.  He  takes  advantage  of  the 
shade  to  keep  his  cutting  straight ;  that  is,  he  does  not  work  behind  the  shade.  As  soon  as  the  cut  is 
worked  back  as  far  as  the  mining  is  excavated,  a  hole  is  drilled  in  the  opposite  corner,  and  a  proper 
supply  of  powder  furnished  as  a  charge  to  blast  down  the  "  jud."  Of  tools,  the  miner  has  a  heavy 
"  breaking-in  pick"  of  four  or  five  pounds,  a  couple  of  medium-sized  picks  of  about  three  pounds,  and 
a  backsider  of  about  two  pounds.  Then  he  has  a  nicking  pick  or  two,  hammer  and  wedge,  set  of  drills, 
and  a  shovel.  His  mine  furniture  consists  in  the  stool  ("  cratket")  on  which  he  sits.  To  be  an  expert 
pick  man  is  to  be  an  expert  miner.  Some  blows  must  be  given  with  much  force ;  then,  by  the  use  of 
his  eyes  and  judgment,  the  neat  little  blows  are  given  to  cut  off  the  pieces,  to  square  up  the  facings 
where  heavier  blows  are  used,  to  break  through  them  ;  thus  an  attentive  miner  uses  more  of  his 
judgment,  and  less  of  his  strength  than  one  who  is  careless  and  indifferent,  and  who  hurries  and  wastes 
his  blows  to  not  one-half  so  much  advantage.  The  good  hewer  pays  attention  to  every  blow  he  strikes. 
A  board-room  is  given  to  two  men,  mates,  who,  as  a  general  rule,  share  their  earnings.  One  of 
them  goes  to  work  at  2  A.  M.,  when  he  is  wakened  up  at  the  first  catting  course.  He  will  arrive  at 
the  face  of  his  board  about  3  A.  M.  At  9  A.  M.  his  mate  will  relieve  him  ;  when,  in  most  cases,  he  will 
have  his  jud  taken  off,  and  nearly  all  filled  up  ;  and,  in  some  cases,  will  have  commenced  the  second  jud 
to  forward  the  work  of  his  mate  (marrow).  This  is  the  custom  in  the  board-rooms  of  the  whole 
workings.  In  the  narrow  headways  three  juds,  of  three  feet  each,  are  generally  taken  off  by  the  two 
mates.  In  the  broken  juds,  where  no  blasting  is  necessary,  or  could  be  allowed,  on  account  of  the 
danger  from  their  proximity  to  the  "  goaves,"  the  mates  work  together.  But  each  jud  has  four  men  ; 
and,  in  special  cases,  where  coal  is  in  danger  of  being  lost,  six  men  are  allotted  to  a  jud ;  that  is,  three 
men  work  together  in  each  shift ;  as  the  day  is  divided  into  two  shifts,  the  fore  shift  and  back  shift 
men  as  they  are  termed.  In  the  broken  juds  the  coal  is  much  easier  mined  than  in  the  whole,  on 
account  of  the  crush  which  is  acting  on  the  ends  of  the  pillars  being  worked  out.  This  makes  it  possible 
for  two  men,  during  a  shift  of  six  hours,  to  send  out  fifteen  tons  of  coal  from  such  a  seam  as  the  Hutton 
Seam,  whose  thickness,  we  have  seen,  varies  from  three  to  four  feet.  At  this  rate,  the  two  shifts  of 
four  men  each,  usually  working  the  double  juds,  send  out  from  a  pillar  as  many  as  sixty  tons  of  coal 
per  day.  To  mine  and  transport  this  amount  of  coal,  keeps  the  shovels  as  well  as  the  picks  constantly 
in  use.  A  full  tub  is  no  sooner  away  from  the  face  than  another  empty  one  is  set  in  by  the  wiry 
muscular  putter. 


56  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

hundred  yards,  and  they  lay  out  the  mine  in  panels,  in  which  the  boards  are  worked. 
The  rate  of  dip  very  often  determines  the  distance  that  the  pairs  of  headways  should 
be  apart  from  each  other ;  the  more  rapid  the  dip,  the  less  the  distance  between  the 
levels  or  headings,  because  of  the  greater  difficulty  of  putting  the  coals  on  a  high 
rate  of  inclination.  The  miner's  work  in  the  boards  is  very  nearly  performed  in 
the  same  manner  as  it  is  in  the  headways ;  but  the  width  of  the  boards  may  be 
driven  four  to  six  feet  wider,  and  on  this  account  the  yard  price  usually  paid  in  walls 
is  omitted.  But  the  coal  works  easier  when  operated  directly  across  its  face,  and  in 
some  cases  it  is  only  paid  for  accordingly. 

The  miner  in  the  Newcastle  Coal  Field  is  not  required  to  set  timber  under  the 
roof  of  his  own  place,  nor  lay  the  barrow-way  as  he  progresses.  The  deputy  does 
this ;  and  you  find  the  deputy  begin  to  take  in  props  and  rails  every  morning  as 
soon  as  the  men  (who  come  in  at  about  3  A.  M.,  very  often  within  ten  minutes  of 
each  other)  have  been  allowed  to  go  to  their  places.  For  the  purpose  of  trans- 
porting rails  and  sleepers  and  props,  the  deputy  possesses  a  vehicle  termed  a  "  horny 
tram,"  which  you  will  see  unloaded  in  the  sketch  of  our  deputy  overman,  Plate 
IV.  While  the  putters  are  at  work,  it  is  not  so  easy  a  job  to  take  in  the  props, 
etc.,  which  are  stored  at  the  station.  The  haste  of  the  putter,  who  is  paid  by  the 
score,  will  not  always  guarantee  the  safety  of  the  deputy  and  the  "  horny  tram," 
should  they  happen  to  meet  him  when  at  a  full  speed  run  out  of  a  headway's  course 
or  mother  gate  board,  where  the  barrow-way  is  in  good  order,  and  the  grade  easy. 
During  the  day  the  deputy  sets  the  props  near  the  faces  of  the  working  places, 
and  advances  the  tram  roads,  as  those  places  progress.  So  you  see  the  deputy 
is  not  an  idler,  but  he  performs  as  much  manual  labor  as  any  man  in  the  mines. 
He  sets  the  air  doors  in  the  barrow-way,  and  keeps  the  air  up  to  the  working  faces 
by  putting  up  the  brattice  and  temporary  air-stoppings.  He  takes  the  rails  out  of 
the  old  places  after  they  have  "holed"  into  others,  and  draws  out  the  props  of  the 
boards  after  the  rails  have  been  taken  out.  The  drawing  out  of  the  timber  is  done 
as  over-work,  and  paid  for  by  the  score,  or  at  the  rate  of  twelve  cents  for  twenty 
props.  But  the  hours  of  the  deputy  are  not  long,  if  they  are  busy  ones.  At  ten 
o'clock  A.  M.  he  is  relieved  by  the  back  shift  deputy,  who,  from  that  moment,  takes 
the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  the  district  upon  his  shoulders,  and  he  remains  at 


THE   HEWER    AND    HIS    WORK.  57 

at  his  post  till  all  hands  have  left  at  quitting  time,  about  five  o'clock.  He  then  sees 
that  all  air  doors  are  shut,  and  that  the  air  currents  are  working  satisfactorily.  The 
miners  also  work  in  two  shifts,  and  the  fore-shift  miners  are  relieved  at  the  same 
time  that  the  fore-shift  deputy  is ;  but  the  putters  and  drivers  and  onsetters  and  road 
men,  together  with  the  men  on  the  surface,  work  twelve  hours  per  day.  Of  course, 
the  labor  of  these  men  is  not  so  excessive  as  is  that  of  the  miner,  excepting  in  some 
cases  the  labor  of  the  putter,  which  to  perform  rapidly  requires  great  physical  force 
and  endurance.  We  have  followed  on  through  the  daily  routine  practised  in  a  district 
working  the  "  whole"  coal  at  the  dip  of  a  mining  property,  the  boards  being  driven 
to  the  dip,  whence  the  light  gases  drain  off  naturally.  We  shall  now  go  from  the 
shaft  up  a  self-acting  incline,  and  examine  the  work  as  it  progresses  in  the  broken 
coal.  But  there  are  some  attendants  whom  we  have  passed  unnoticed  on  our  way, 
who  deserve  a  passing  word  at  least.  The  boys  who  couple  the  tubs  at  the  top  and 
bottom  of  the  engine  plane  and  give  the  signals  to  start  the  engine  sets  have 
responsibilities  quite  important  for  their  ages;  boys  about  fourteen  to  sixteen 
performing  these  services.  Then  there  is  the  door-keeper  as  shown  in  Plate  VII.,  and 
that  little  horse-driver  of  twelve  or  fourteen,  with  his  horse  of  about  sixteen  hands, 
who  is  not  to  be  jeered  at,  as  his  picture  in  the  plate  will  tell  you.  He  works  off  the 
engine,  sets  and  takes  ten  to  twenty  wagons  at  a  time,  and  acknowledges  as  supe- 
riors only  the  "  wagon-way-man"  and  the  overman,  an  officer  we  shall  accompany 
just  now  through  the  broken  workings.  But  the  wagon-way-man  is  responsible  for 
the  good  keeping  of  the  horse  ruads,  and  for  the  road  in  the  engine  plane,  together 
with  the  rollers  on  which  the  wire-rope,  working  the  engine  sets  up  and  down  the 
plane,  runs.  The  wagon-way-man  is  usually  one  of  the  handiest  men  in  the  mine. 
He  must  be  an  expert  worker  and  have  good  judgment,  and  pay  strict  attention  to 
his  roads. 


58  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  OVERMAN— SELF-ACTING  INCLINED  PLANE. 

THE  overman  is  an  important  personage,  filling  a  very  responsible  position. 
This  officer  we  find,  after  he  has  been  in  his  cabin  and  stripped  off  his  superfluous 
clothing.  He  is  in  his  drawers,  and  a  sleeved  vest  of  blue  flannel.  You  see 
the  breast  of  his  white  flannel  shirt,  his  clean  blue  stockings,  and  strong  shoes. 
His  leather  cap  and  "  yard  wand"  belong  to  his  mining  outfit.  (See  Plate  IX.)* 

*  THE  OVERMAN  (Plate  IX.) — Among  the  executive  officers  of  the  coal  mine  are  two,  mention 
of  whom  has  not  been  made  in  the  text,  and  we  must  not  omit  them  here.  We  refer  to  the  Master 
Wasteman,  and  the  Master  Shifter.  The  one  has  charge  of  a  few  men  who  keep  the  air  courses  open,  and 
who  make  stated  excursions  through  them.  It  is  remarkable  that  all  master  wastemen  are  more  or  less 
stout.  One  would  suppose  that  he  was  purposely  selected  for  the  special  duty  of  getting  through  the  air- 
ways ;  for  a  corporation  like  his  going  through  an  air-course,  is  a  guarantee  that  a  large  area  of  said  passage 
is  free,  at  least  as  much  of  it  as  will  correspond  to  our  wasteman's  ample  proportions.  The  overman  has 
generally  passed  all  the  grades,  except  in  some  cases  that  of  master  wasteman,  of  whom  we  cannot  say  any- 
thing here  except  that  he  is  stout,  and  that  the  duty  assigned  to  him  is  the  care  of  the  return  air-courses. 
Consequently,  he  is  always  out  of  sight  until  time  to  quit,  and  time  for  dinner  takes  him  home,  as  he 
is  always  a  man  of  the  "  second,"  or  "  boys'  calling  course."  A  master  shifter  the  overman  has  often 
been;  but  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary  that  he  should  have  been  such  to  fit  him  for  the  post  of  overman. 
Another  officer,  too,  who  belongs  to  the  underground  department  of  a  colliery,  is  the  master  sinker,  who 
very  often  follows  this  profession  as  a  steady  occupation  through  life.  Our  overman  may  have  been  a 
master  sinker,  who  is  generally  considered  a  very  clever  fellow,  and  who,  after  the  sinking  of  a  new 
shaft  or  "  winning,"  is  often  retained  in  charge  of  the  coal  mining,  especially  in  new  coal  fields.  But 
very  generally  our  overman  has  come  up  from  the  trapper ;  and  the  office  preceding  that  of  overman  is 
very  generally  that  of  back-overman,  whose  duties  are  so  similar  to  those  of  a  superior  deputy  overman, 
and  who  approaches  so  nearly  the  chief  overman,  as  not  to  require  a  special  sketch  or  description. 

The  duty  of  the  overman  is  to  attend  to  the  workings,  and  arrange  the  men  at  their  work.  He 
consults,  at  least  once  a  day,  with  the  underviewer,  to  whom  all  contemplated  changes  are  reported  and 
explained.  He  receives  the  reports  of  the  deputies  of  each  district  every  day,  and  never  fails  to  see 
and  interview  them,  when  all  important  points  are  discussed.  In  this  way,  all  parts  of  the  mine  are 
brought  constantly  before  our  overman.  In  some  special  cases  he  has  studied  the  higher  branches  of 
science,  and  become  an  expert  scholar  and  VIEWER  or  MINING  ENGINEER,  and  here  we  shall  leave  him 
at  the  top  of  an  important  prof  ession,  and  we  shall  enter  his  parlor  or  comfortable  sitting-room,  and  hear 
what  he  has  to  say  to  one  of  our  American  fraternity  on  a  tour  professional.  You  are  ushered  into  the 
presence  of  an  intelligent  gentleman,  of  distinguished  ability.  He  suggests  a  glass  of  wine  which  he 


'XT    3IYTZ 


THE   OVERMAN.  59 

The  man  before  us  is  fifty  at  least.  He  has  "  kept"  a  door  and  a  switch,  and  been 
a  "  way  cleaner"  before  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  Then  he  was  a  driver,  a  helper- 
declares  is  an  old  custom,  becoming  obsolete.  You  decline  the  civility  with  respect  and  many  thanks. 
But  you  take  a  cigar,  when  it  is  offered.  Your  friend  takes  his  long  clay  pipe  and  stuffs  it  with  the  best 
of  Virginia's  produce,  and  he  enjoys  his  pipe,  while  the  wine  stands  untouched  between  you. 

"  You  have  come  from  Germany,"  says  he,  "  and  you  must  have  visited  the  mines  of  West- 
phalia, Belgium,  and  France.  It  is  the  best  school  for  study,"  he  continues,  without  allowing  you  time 
to  answer  the  question  he  has  asked.  "  We  English  are  in  the  main  too  conceited  to  travel  with  a 
purpose.  But  we  are  changing  for  the  better,  in  regard  to  this  matter.  We  are  beginning  to  seek 
practical  knowledge  in  the  Continental  districts.  We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  supply  the  world 
with  mining  engineers  that  we  may  have  been  jealous  of  our  neighbors.  Into  France,  Germany,  and 
everywhere  else,  we  have  sent  trained  miningmen,  except,  perhaps,  toAmerica ;  we  may  say  we  have  sent 
our  pupils  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Some  have  gone  to  America  on  speculation,  but  have  returned  dis- 
satisfied. They  find  the  '  miner  boss"  and  ordinary  surveyor  installed  in  the  places  they  are  trained  to 
fill.  We  have  no  right  to  find  fault  with  an  arrangement  which  for  the  present  time  seems  to  give 
satisfaction.  At  present,  judging  from  accounts,  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  miner  boss  or  superin- 
tendent, or  the  surveyor  or  the  master  machinist,  or  outside  boss  will  become  the  mining  engineer  of 
America.  This  is  your  own  affair.  Isaac  Lowthian  Bell,  one  of  the  members  of  our  Institute,  has 
iron  interests  in  the  southwest  of  your  country.  He  has  written  his  report,  and  spoken  much  of  his 
visits  to  your  coal  regions.  You  have  fine  natural  resources ;  mines  almost  vomiting  their  riches  into 
your  very  laps.  Your  gold  and  silver  jingle  out  of  the  mountain  gorges.  Your  copper  and  lead  have 
overflown  from  the  crevices  of  the  rocks.  Your  oil  wells  spout  into  the  air,  and  illuminating  gas  ready- 
made,  or  nearly  so,  flows  unheeded  right  in  the  midst  of  some  of  your  large  towns.  Why  the  best  coal 
in  the  world  has  tumbled  into  your  wagons,  just  at  the  mere  touch  of  the  '  starter's'  or  miner's  crow-bar. 
You  have  so  far  scarcely  required  the  aid  of  the  mining  engineer,  and  from  what  we  learn,  you  get 
along,  as  best  you  can,  without  the  aid  of  a  mechanical  one,  which  in  a  new  district  is  a  matter  of  still 
greater  difficulty.  The  managers  you  have  seem  to  be  very  jealous  of  mining  experts  and  professionals. 
They  seem  to  hurry  and  push  ahead  a  lot  of  work  hardly  worth  the  doing.  There  is  this  difference, 
you  will  always  observe,  between  men  who  understand  their  business,  and  men  who  do  not.  These 
latter  push  and  fret,  and  take  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  do  improperly  that  which  would  be  of  no  trouble 
to  those  others  who  have  taken  the  trouble  to  get  started  at  the  bottom  of  their  trade,  and  get  up  to 
the  top  of  the  ladder.  They  go  about  their  business  as  if  they  had  nothing  in  hand,  and  as  if  important 
jobs  gave  them  not  the  least  trouble." 

The  fire  has  gone  out  of  your  own  cigar  while  your  host  has  been  speaking,  and  you  relight  it ;  then 
you  strike  a  match,  and  hand  it  to  your  host  who,  thanking  you,  lights  his  pipe  again.  You  smoke 
for  a  few  minutes,  without  speaking.  Then  you  talk,  as  an  American  student  well  knows  how  to  do, 
in  a  creditable  manner.  You  amuse  your  host  with  a  description  of  the  Continental  mines  and  miners; 
and  in  some  things  you  literally  instruct  him,  particularly  on  the  application  of  electrical  apparatus 
employed  in  the  French  and  Belgian  mines  for  signaling  and  for  lighting  the  main  portions  of  them. 

You  have  smoked  out  your  Havana  through  your  descriptions,  and  venture  a  remark  on  English 
practices  and  prejudices  in  mining.  But  he  continues  his  remarks  aptly  :  "  Our  systems  of  mining  and 
transportation  here  in  the  north  have  always  been  in  advance  of  the  other  districts,  as  a  whole.  Of 


60  THE    ART   OF    COAL   MINING    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

up,  a  half-tram,  a  timber-leader,  or  "  deputy's  clerk,"  and  a  putter.  At  twenty  he 
was  a  hewer ;  at  twenty-four  a  deputy ;  at  thirty  a  back  overman ;  at  thirty-five  a 
maister  shifter,  and  at  forty  an  overman.  He  is  satisfied  with  his  position,  and  being 
a  master  of  it,  he  feels  no  anxiety  concerning  his  heavy  responsibilities.  He  looks 
like  one  ready  for  any  emergency ;  and  nothing  could  take  place  inside  of  a  coal 
mine  that  would  take  him  by  surprise.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  his  physique, 
which  is  such  as  no  man  need  be  ashamed  of.  His  dress  belongs  rather  to  his 
profession  than  to  his  person.  The  flannels  are  a  protection  to  the  miner,  in  case 
of  slight  explosions  of  gas.  The  parts  of  the  body  covered  over  with  flannel  are 
not  often  burnt,  the  flannels  being  bad  conductors  of  heat.  We  walk  on  to  the 
west  of  the  shaft,  and  go  along  the  shaft  siding.  A  set  of  full  tubs  have  just  been 
delivered  from  the  self-acting  inclined  plane — a  road  worked  on  the  principle  of 
gravitation.  The  shaft  boys  are  running  up  the  empty  tubs  from  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft  to  form  the  set  of  the  "  incline,  and  as  each  tub  is  joined  up  it  is  coupled. 
Thirty  tubs  complete  the  set,  and  here  is  the  last  one  just  coupled  up.  The  lad 
pulls  down  a  lever  fixed  on  the  side  of  a  piece  of  timber,  and  lets  it  spring  back 

late,  we  have  substituted  the  long  wall  of  Derbyshire  for  our  board  and  pillar  system  of  getting  the  coal, 
which,  in  many  cases,  is  to  be  preferred.  This  is  the  principal  change  which  has  taken  place.  We  have 
substituted  iron  for  wood  at  some  of  our  heapsteads.  You  can  see  from  the  window  behind  you  our 
elegant  structure,  built  of  trussed  iron.  Mounted  over  all  are  those  fine  wrought  iron  pulleys  which  are 
twenty-three  feet  in  diameter.  They  stand  seventy  feet  in  the  air  on  their  light,  elegant,  yet  strong 
system  of  iron  network.  It  was  mainly  suggested  by  an  English  mining  engineer  who  had  served  an 
apprenticeship  to  mechanical  engineering  in  your  country,  in  the  works  of  Cooper  &  Hewitt,  if  I  remember 
right,  of  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  He  came  to  me  from  Mr.  Crawshay,  of  the  Gateshead  Iron  Works, 
about  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Field,  of  New  York,  came  to  us  to  consult  on  the  laying  of  the  second 
Atlantic  telegraphic  cable  which  we  took  in  hand.  Peter  Cooper,  of  the  firm  I  have  mentioned,  was 
the  president  of  the  cable  company.  He  knew  our  iron  masters  here,  the  Crawshays ;  so  your  engineer 
and  I  became  good  friends.  He  came  with  an  extraordinary  offer.  He  proposed  to  erect  his  iron  heap- 
stead,  with  the  pulleys  mounted  on  it,  at  the  cost  of  the  Gateshead  Iron  Works,  and  asked  that,  if  it 
should  suit  us,  we  should  pay  the  cost ;  if  it  did  not  please  us,  he  proposed  to  tear  it  down,  and 
remove  it.  We  did  not  accept  the  proposition  at  once,  but^took  the  drawings,  consulted  Mr.  Craw- 
shay,  and  after  a  year  or  two,  put  up  the  improvements  as  you  see  them.  We  objected  to  the  plans 
then  more  on  account  of  having  our  business  interrupted,  than  for  any  other  reason.  We  added  to  your 
American  idea  of  truss-work  our  English  ideas  of  a  screen  made  to  screen  out  the  small  coal,  and  to 
weigh  the  large  coal ;  and  taking  advantage  of  this  plan  to  find  out  the  miners  who  sent  out  the  largest 
proportion  of  lump  coal,  to  whom  we  paid  premiums.  We  found  that  such  a  system  benefited  the 
proprietors,  as  well  as  the  best  of  our  miners,  if  not  the  whole  of  them." 


THE   OVERMAN.  61 

again  to  its  original  position,  and  the  signal  to  start  is  thus  given.  The  bell  wire 
shakes  and  rattles,  and  shortly  after  the  rope  on  the  front  of  the  set  pulls  up  in  line 
with  the  first  tub  on  to  which  it  is  hooked,  and  the  rope  pulls,  and  the  set  starts 
steadily  off  up  the  plane  after  the  wire  rope ;  and  alter  the  set  has  disappeared,  we 
hear  it  rumble  up  the  plane  till  the  receding  sound  is  lost  in  the  distance.  Waiting 
here  for  a  short  time,  we  hear  the  sound  of  wagons  again  on  the  plane  approaching. 
Then  the  set  rolls  into  the  siding,  and  comes  to  rest ;  when  we  leave  the  shaft  boys 
busy  uncoupling  the  full  set,  and  getting  another  empty  set  ready,  and  we  go  on  up 
the  incline. 

The  inclined  bank  going  west,  and  to  the  rise,  is  very  similar  to  the  engine  back 
we  have  seen  going  on  the  dip  to  the  east.  There  is  a  single  track,  hi  the  middle  of 
which  there  are  rollers  to  carry  the  wire  rope.  This  single  track  goes  on  to 
"  meetings,"  a  siding  at  which  the  full  set  coming  down  passes  the  empty  set  going 
up.  The  tongues  are  fixed  and  open,  and  the  empty  wagons  go  into  that  track,  to 
which  a  pair  of  peculiar  switches  directs  them.  The  empty  set  goes  on  into  the 
siding,  and  after  it  is  well  clear  of  the  full  set  which  it  has  met,  runs  on  a  track 
formed  of  three  rails.  These  three  rails  form  two  tracks,  but  the  middle  rail  is 
common  to  both  of  them.  The  full  sets  going  from  the  siding  at  "  meetings"  into 
the  single  track  below  "  meetings"  shift  the  switches  automatically,  so  that  the 
empty  set,  coming  up  the  plane,  goes  into  that  track  of  the  siding  which  the  full 
set  has  just  left.  AVhere  the  curves  of  the  road  have  a  tendency  to  draw  the  rope 
out  of  line,  there  are  sheaves  which  retain  it  in  the  middle  of  the  track.  We  should 
have  remarked  the  same  thing  in  the  engine  plane.  On  each  side  of  the  inclined 
plane  drift,  we  find  the  cross-headings  well  stopped  up  by  the  substantial  brick 
stopping,  well  cemented  and  plastered,  to  prevent  air  leaks.  This  denotes  that  there 
is  on  each  side  of  this  main  drift  to  the  western  boundary  of  the  mine,  a  return  air- 
course  collecting  the  returning  air-currents,  coming  from  the  north  and  south  sides  of 
the  colliery's  workings. 

We  find  on  the  head  of  the  "  inclined  bank"  that  the  three  rails  run  into  a  single 
track,  and  the  single  track  branches  out  at  once  to  form  a  siding  of  two  tracks,  one  for 
the  full,  and  another  for  the  empty  wagons.  Here  we  also  see  that  the  sets  coming  up 
the  inclined  plane  are  divided  into  horse  sets,  and  distributed  to  the  various  districts 
whose  products  are  brought  to  the  head  of  the  plane. 


62  THE   ART   OF   COAL   MINING   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

The  machinery  that  "  brakes"  the  sets  up  and  down  the  plane  is  simple  in  plan 
and  detail.  A  system  of  sheaves  (three  in  number),  six  feet  in  diameter,  around 
which  the  wire  rope  of  the  plane  partly  passes,  constitutes  the  winding  or  lowering 
machinery.  The  spindles  of  the  sheaves  are  set  vertically,  and  the  grooves  of  the 
three  large  sheaves  are  in  the  same  plane ;  and  they  are  provided  with  a  brake 
operated  by  a  hand-wheel,  pinion,  and  racked  lever. 

A  strong  boy  operates  the  brake,  and  this  boy  is  termed  the  brakesman,  who 
regulates  the  speed  of  the  sets.  Another  boy  who  couples  the  wagons  and  drives  a 
trained  horse  to  start  off  the  sets,  constitutes  the  whole  force  required  to  operate  the 
sets  at  the  head  of  the  "  inclined  bank." 


ELATE  A711 


PLATE 


•BROKEN   COAL"   WORKED.  63 


CHAPTER   XII. 

" BROKEN  COAL"  WORKED. 

WE  pass  into  the  horse  road,  leading  to  the  district  south,  where  we  find  the 
broken  coal  being  worked  out.  Here  the  overman  will  explain  to  us  the  various 
methods  adopted  in  taking  out  pillars  of  coal,  and  his  instructions  need  not  be 
marked  by  the  signs  of  quotation.  The  horse  road  is  very  often  the  main  headway 
of  a  district.  In  Plate  X.  we  have  marked  it  as  the  main  road.  It  has  been 
of  late  years  an  object  in  the  ventilation  of  a  mine,  to  avoid,  as  much  as  possible, 
air  doors.  You  will  see  that  in  our  main  tracks,  as  far  as  we  have  gone,  we  have  no 
air  doors ;  and  when  there  is  an  abundance  of  fresh  air  carried  forward,  there  is  no 
necessity  for  them  (for  air  door,  see  Plate  VII.).*  It  is  only  the  mines  inadequately 

*  Plate  VII — THE  MINER'S  FIRST  STEP  represents  the  little  "  Trapper"  at  his  door  in  the  horse 
road.  Trapper  is  a  term  derived  from  trap-door,  which  was  formerly  used  to  designate  an  air  door  in 
a  coal  mine.  The  scene  shows  the  little  fellow  in  his  niche  or  "  hole"  cut  in  the  rib  of  the  wagon  road 
headway.  The  door  at  which  he  is  posted  in  this  instance,  is  a  wagon-way  door.  When  such  a  door 
is  situated  near  the  switch  of  a  forked  track,  the  duty  of  switch-keeper  is  added  to  that  of  door-keeper. 
In  our  sketch,  we  have  allowed  him  a  candle,  which  he  sticks  to  the  coal-rib  in  a  piece  of  tough  clay. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  trapper  works  in  the  dark,  and  acts  in  obedience  to  the  communications  he 
receives  through  his  auditory  senses.  When  he  hears  a  wagon  rumbling  towards  his  door,  or  the  step 
of  a  foot  passenger  approaching,  his  duty  is  to  pull  on  his  door  string,  one  end  of  which  is  secured  close 
to  him,  and  open  his  door.  As  soon  as  the  wagons  or  passengers  are  safely  through,  he  allows  the  door 
to  fall  shut. 

Air  doors  are  made  to  fall  shut  by  gravity,  by  a  certain  mode  of  hanging  them.  The  frames  are 
not  exactly  perpendicular  ;  the  king  post  leans  at  the  top  a  little  towards  the  track  on  the  one  hand,  and  as 
much  away  from  the  door  on  the  other.  Some  of  the  main  doors,  which  happen  to  be  located  in 
passages  connecting  the  intake  and  return  air  courses  near  to  the  shafts,  are  subjected  to  a  pressure 
amounting  at  times  to  as  much  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  which  requires  a  little  tact  to  handle 
them  and  jerk  them  open.  These  doors  are  generally  relieved  of  pressure  by  placing  two  doors  (double 
doors)  in  the  passage,  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other,  yet  far  enough  off  to  allow  a  horse  and  his 
set  to  stand  between  them,  so  that  the  two  doors  have  no  need  of  being  open  at  the  same  time.  This  is 
a  plan  also  used  to  prevent  an  undue  escape  of  air  through  such  passages. 

By  a  skilful  application  of  the  Regulator  and  Air  Crossing,  the  use  of  air  doors  has  been  aban- 
doned in  some  of  the  best  ventilated  coal  mines.  We  have  here  reference  to  main  doors  in  main 
passages.  In  passages  used  temporarily,  near  the  face  of  the  working  places,  doors  may  be  used  without 


64  THE  ART  OF  MINING  COAL  DESCRIBED  AND  ILLUSTRATED. 

supplied  with  air  through  the  insufficiency  of  air  ways  that  are  termed  "  FIERY." 
Where  there  is  not  an  abundance  of  air,  the  lame  method  of  using  doors  to  force 
the  little  air  in  circulation  here  and  there  and  everywhere,  is  resorted  to.  Plenty  of 
capacious  passages  will  furnish  an  amount  of  air,  in  proportion  to  their  capacity.  If 
the  air  is  forced  with  a  high  velocity,  it  will  rush  through  the  nearest  outlet,  and  a 
small  opening  or  leak  will  waste  a  large  amount  of  air. 

The  overman  tells  us  this  as  we  pass  through  the  main  headway.  A  horse  and 
train  (set)  of  loaded  wagons  pass  out  as  we  go  in,  and  the  driver,  a  sharp  lad  of 
thirteen,  sits  rather  comfortably  on  the  limmers,  holding  a  safety-lamp  to  light  the 
horse  on  his  way,  as  we  have  seen  him  in  Plate  VIII. 

We  come  next  to  the  station  which,  as  in  the  "  whole  coal,"  is  only  a  siding  in 
which  the  horse  sets  are  collected.  This  is  a  large  district,  extending  from  A  to  B, 
the  coal  above  belonging  to  a  system  of  workings  on  a  higher  level,  and  in  it  are 
ten  "  juds"  from  each  of  which  thirty  tons  of  coal  may  be  sent  daily.  In  each  jud 
two  men  work  at  a  time,  and  during  the  day  of  twelve  hours  these  men  change,  or 
are  relieved  by  a  second  shift.  On  account  of  the  downward  action  of  the  roof, 
the  coal  is  easily  mined  with  the  pick,  and  during  his  short  shift  of  six  hours,  the 
miner  never  ceases  his  work.  The  pick  to  loosen  the  coal  is  succeeded  by  the 
shovel  to  fill  it  into  the  tubs,  which  are  quickly  changed  by  the  half  naked  putter, 
with  the  drops  of  perspiration  falling  from  his  chin. 

inconvenience,  and  with  tolerable  safety.  In  horse  roads  all  doors  should  be  dispensed  with,  if  such  a 
feat  is  possible. 

In  place  shown  in  this  sketch  it  is  desirable  to  turn  the  air  up  the  board  driven  off  the  headway.  To  do 
this,  in  a  continuous  stream,  it  is  necessary  to  put  doors  in  the  lateral  passages  also,  as  shown  by  the  doors 
placed  in  the  back  headways.  In  actual  practice,  doors  are  not  often  placed  so  near  to  each  other  as 
they  are  shown  to  be  here  ;  but  they  are  quite  frequently  placed  relatively  so.  I  should  advise  those 
used  to  ventilate  or  force  air  by  the  use  of  air  doors,  to  study  the  merits  of  the  Regulator  and  Air 
Crossing,  and  solve  the  problems  in  ventilation  to  which  they  may  be  applied. 

We  have  taken  advantage  of  this  sketch  to  illustrate  the  method  of  tramway  so  extensively  used 
in  the  mines  of  Durham  and  Northumberland.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  single  turn-out  is  made  up 
of  three  pieces  of  casting,  besides  two  sweeps  and  one  straight  piece.  They  are  for  tracks  which  branch 
off  at  right  angles  from  a  main  track.  They  are  used  more  in  the  barrow-way  than  in  the  horse  roads, 
in  which  latter  the  ordinary  switches  and  frog  crossing  are  used  to  lay  all  turnouts  and  sidings.  The 
triple  turnout  is  very  rarely  used.  Complete,  it  consists  of  five  pieces  of  casting,  besides  the  two  pair 
of  sweeps.  By  dispensing  with  the  two  upper  pieces  of  casting,  representing  each  a  crossing,  we  have 
remaining  the  ordinary  double  turn,  so  useful  in  working-off  the  juds  in  the  broken. 


"HDL  Z  ~:~7£ 


Of   THt 

UNIVERSITY 


"BROKEN    COAL"    WORKED.  65 

There  are  twelve  putters  in  this  district  and  the  deputy's  "  plate  layer"  or 
"timber  leader,"  an  attendant  who  is  indispensable  in  the  broken  workings,  has 
his  troubles  among  them,  fixing  the  tracks  when  there  are  so  many  together.  We 
shall  place  the  work  as  it  is  usually  done,  in  a  broken  district,  twice  a  day  by  the 
deputies.  The  letters  on  the  blackboard  refer  to  the  letters  of  the  Plate  X.  denoting 
the  several  juds.  We  have  excluded  those  places  driven  outwards  to  split  the 

Number 

.    ,        of  tubs  Sheaths  or  ranks  of  Putters. 

Jnds-     to  each 

jud. 

A  42 

B  42 

C  42 

D  42 

E  42 

F  42 

G  42 

H  42 

I  42 

J  42 


1 

2     3 

456 

789 

10    11 

12 

17 

18     7 

10 

18    14 

3    18 

17     4 
14    17 

11 

7    17 

18 

7    18 

17 

14    18 

10 

11 

4    17 
17    14    .. 

18     3 

18 

17     7 

12)420 
2)35 


pillars ;  but  usually  the  coal  to  come  from  them  is  placed  along  with  the  coal  of  the 
juds,  and  they  are  arranged  in  their  order,  according  to  their  relative  distances;  that 
is,  those  nearest  to  the  district  siding  coming  first  in  order  in  the  column  in  which  the 
miner's  work  is  placed.  The  number  of  wagons  allowed  in  such  places  would  not  be 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  number  allowed  for  men  working  in  the  juds,  and  the 
price  of  the  mining  of  such  coal  would  be  increased  at  a  rate  to  make  the  wages  of 
the  pillar  splitters  equal  to  the  wages  of  the  men  working  off  the  juds. 

By  reference  to  the  above  table,  which  corresponds  to  the  blackboard  nailed 
up  in  the  district,  we  find  that  there  are  ten  juds  and  twelve  putters.  The  work 
placed  is  for  one-half  a  putter's  day  or  one  whole  shift  of  miners.  Two  men 
in  each  jud  are  allowed  forty-two  wagons,  which  are  termed  two  score,  the  extra 
tubs  being  allowed  to  make  good  all  bad  filling  and  waste  product.  The  total 
summed  up  and  divided  among  twelve  putters  gives  each  boy  thirty-five.  Subdi- 


66  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

vided  by  two  gives  the  putters,  either  seventeen  or  eighteen  "  near"  coals,  with  the  same 
number  of  the  "  far-off"  coals.  By  inspection  of  the  blackboard,  it  will  be  seen  how 
the  odd  numbers  are  divided.  The  first  putter  gets  17  tubs  at  the  jud  A,  and  18 
at  the  jud  J.  The  rest  will  be  seen  as  they  succeed  each  other.  It  will  be  seen 
that  several  of  the  putters  go  in  four  different  places ;  and  there  are  two  of  the 
juds  C  and  H,  in  which  four  different  putters  go ;  but  the  arrangement  is  so  well 
understood  that  there  is  seldom  any  confusion  in  either  the  operations  of  putter  or 
h  ewer. 

We  will,  with  the  reader's  permission,  ask  the  overman  a  few  questions  concerning 
the  working  off  of  the  juds. 

"  What  are  the  main  dimensions  of  the  pillars  of  this  district  V 

"  The  coal  being  highly  charged  with  gas,  we  have  done  well  to  have  them 
made  so  large  as  they  are :  namely,  sixty  by  ninety  feet.  These  you  see  are  split 
headways,  that  is,  on  the  end  of  the  coal.  The  juds  in  each  pillar  are  duplicated ; 
one  is  worked  off  to  the  dip,  the  other  to  the  rise,  and  the  work  is  pushed  to  the 
utmost  to  preserve  the  coal  from  the  crush  following  up  from  the  '  goaf.' ' 

"  How  long  does  it  require  to  work  off  a  jud "?" 

"  Let  me  see :"  and  the  overman  makes  a  mental  calculation.  "In  this  district 
the  juds  only  last  two  days ;  and  a  jud  of  five  yards  in  width  will  yield  above  one 
hundred  tons  of  coal.  As  we  take  off  about  fifteen  yards  of  each  pillar  weekly,  this 
range  of  pillars  yields  in  the  neighborhood  of  eighteen  to  twenty-four  hundred  tons 
per  week  in  the  aggregate." 

"  Then  the  yield  of  coal  from  a  district  working  off  the  broken  coal  is  quite  an 
item  in  the  produce  of  your  colliery  V 

"  With  the  places  splitting  the  pillars  taken  into  the  calculation,  we  do  much 
here  to  keep  the  shaft  pulleys  running ;  we  get  three  hundred  tons  of  coal  weekly 
from  those  in  addition  to  the  amount  we  get  from  the  juds." 

"  Have  you  much  trouble  with  the  crush  of  the  roof  as  it  acts  with  its  immense 
leverage  over  the  goaf,  pressing  on  the  ends  of  your  pillars  as  if  on  a  fulcrum!" 

"  We  have  the  usual  crush ;  but  we  keep  the  pillars  and  juds  in  line  with  each 
other,  or  as  nearly  so  as  we  can,  to  offer  as  strong  a  line  of  resistance  as  possible. 
When  any  small  number  of  the  pillars  are  left  a  little  behind  the  others  they 


ELATEJQ. 


PLATE  ZQ. 


a  K ficor  of  Cacti. 


sfiowuuy  fJu; 

Jutf,-;  oYF&te  anA  of 


fzsiti 
Tip  the 

A,  Jutl  i/i  TEhe  7i7-0to>n  Tins;  a  cfistincf 
Signi/iccttio/l  fimu  /Jic  Sfanr  term 
Hfay/.  appluxl  to  f7u>  trfeoTe.    /i  is 
use  A  to  iricticciff*  the  finlirp  sl-i 
tuhpn  off  f/ie  fftZfir  «.y  <icri0t&5t  ITL 
t/iis 


"BROKEN    COAL"    WORKED.  67 

suffer  much  from  the  crush,  and  give  us  much  trouble  in  keeping  the  roads 
open  to  convey  the  coal  away  from  them.  As  it  is,  we  experience  little  trouble. 
By  thus  keeping  the  pillars  in  line,  and  working  off  the  juds  rapidly,  the  roof 
gets  down  with  such  facility  as  to  avoid  a  great  deal  of  the  creep  caused  by 
a  roof  that  is  held  up  by  a  stump  of  coal  left  here  and  there  at  too  many 
points  in  the  goaf.  Stumps  of  coal  at  some  places  (I  mean  at  other  collieries)  are 
left  by  carelessness,  and  they  have  the  effect  of  deflecting  the  pressure  of  the  roof 
over  the  adjacent  pillars  to  a  great  distance.  This  causes  the  juds  to  be  worked  off 
totally  with  much  difficulty.  The  great  object  to  be  aimed  at  in  working  the  broken 
is  to  get  the  coal  all  out  before  a  jud  comes  on,  that  is  the  weight  of  the  roof."  (See 
Plates  XI.  and  XII.) 

"You  mean  the  weight  of  the  roof  in  the  jud  coming  on  to  the  props.  But 
when  this  is  made  manifest  by  the  breaking  of  the  props,  you  must  draw  out  the 
timber  ?" 

"  Yes ;  but  only  at  the  last  moment,  if  the  work  has  not  ceased  for  the  day. 
We  have  sometimes  to  draw  out  the  timber  before  quitting  time ;  but  we  always 
aim  to  get  the  jud  off  about  time  to  quit,  so  that  the  back  shift  deputy  can  draw  out 
the  props  at  night.  Then  the  shifters  generally  get  the  new  juds  ready  to  start  off 
next  morning." 

"  The  drawing  out  of  the  props  is  attended  with  much  danger  ?" 

"  It  would  certainly  be  as  dangerous  a  job  to  take  out  the  props  of  a  jud  as  it 
apparently  is,  did  not  the  deputies  set  up  every  prop  themselves.  You  see  the  props 
are  set  as  closely  together  as  it  is  deemed  necessary,  and  the  deputy  while  drawing 
the  props  does  it  expeditiously,  keeping  himself  secure  among  his  forest  of  props  in 
the  mean  time." 

"  Begin,  please,  and  describe  more  minutely  the  drawing  of  a  jud,  and  we  shall 
follow  the  interesting  operation  through,  till  the  props  are  piled  in  the  end  of  the 
nearest  board  ready  for  further  service." 

"  The  time  is  after  the  last  tubs  of  coal  have  gone  out  for  the  day  and  the 
miners  have  put  on  their  clothes  and  gone  out ;  then  the  deputy — with  his  timber  lad, 
and,  in  some  cases,  a  hewer  he  keeps  to  assist  him — comes  in  with  his  axe — a  tool 
made  with  a  hammer  face  on  one  of  its  extremities.  He  commences  operations  at 


68  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

once,  beginning  at  the  innermost  row  of  props.  As  he  knocks  out  one  after  another 
the  boy  picks  them  up  and  places  them  on  his  tram ;  and  when  the  tram  is  loaded, 
it  is  run  out  to  the  nearest  board  end,  into  which  the  props  are  carefully  stowed 
with  their  ends  pointing  outward  so  that  they  may  be  counted,  as  the  drawing  is 
paid  for  at  the  rate  of  sixpence  a  score.  By  the  time  the  tram  returns  a  number  of 
props  have  been  thrown  out  into  the  tramway,  and  the  lad  begins  to  load  his  tram 
as  quickly  as  possible.  As  the  tram-plates  are  pulled  out  at  the  same  time,  these 
with  the  sleepers  are  loaded  on  the  tram,  and  they  are  also  stowed  away  to  be 
ready  for  immediate  use.  But  as  there  is  in  almost  every  case  of  the  drawing  out 
of  a  jud  on  the  rise  another  to  be  drawn  out  on  the  dip,  it  often  requires  two 
deputies,  the  one  to  aid  the  other,  or  each  one  to  take  a  jud  and  draw  out  the  props 
simultaneously  in  each  jud,  each  deputy  being  provided  with  an  assistant  of  some 
kind,  either  a  man  or  strong  boy." 

"  When  the  props  are  all  out  will  the  roof  get  down  at  once  V 
"  Sometimes  the  fall  takes  place  before  all  the  props  are  out,  and  the  fragments 
of  roof  break  to  pieces  at  the  deputy's  feet.  In  such  a  case  a  few  props  are  una- 
voidably lost.  Then  a  good  man  will  stand  at  his  post  till  the  roof  breaks  about  his 
ears  and  feel  quite  safe.  But  when  the  final  crash  comes  you  will  always  see  the 
deputy  in  a  safe  place.  He  generally  has  a  correct  idea  of  the  line  at  which  the 
roof  will  break  and  fall,  and  he  makes  it  a  point  to  be  beyond  this  line  when  the 
roof  thunders  into  the  vacant  goaf." 

"Quite  a  number  of  props  are  set  in  the  juds  before  they  are  worked  off?" 
"  Out  of  a  double  jud,  the  deputies  draw  in  about  thirty  minutes  very  often 
fifteen  score." 

"  You  have  more  than  one  set  of  deputies  in  such  a  large  district  as  this  ?" 
"There  is  work  enough  to  keep  two  deputies  busy  in  each  'shift.'  At  this  rate 
we  employ  a  deputy  to  each  one  hundred  tons  of  coal  mined  daily.  But,  as  you 
see,  we  do  not  allow  the  hewers  to  handle  any  material ;  they  neither  set  props  nor 
lay  rails  as  they  do  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  We  have  the  division  of  labor  system 
more  thoroughly  carried  out  than  our  brothers  in  other  countries,  and  on  this 
account  we  mine  more  coal  in  less  time  with  an  equal  number  of  men.  The  deputy 
I  consider  the  most  serviceable  man  in  our  coal  mines.  Everybody  calls  for  him 


«1 


BROKEN    COAL"    WORKED.  69 

when  he  is  in  trouble,  except,  indeed,  the  driver  in  the  horse  road,  who  calls  for  that 
worthy  the  '  icagon-icay-man'  The  hewer,  meeting  with  a  piece  of  bad  roof,  sends 
for  the  deputy  by  the  first  putter  who  comes  into  his  place  afterwards.  If  the  face  is 
too  far  away  from  the  end  of  the  barrow-way,  the  hewer  says  to  the  putter  running  out 
with  the  loaded  tub :  '  Lad,  send  the  deputy  in  to  lay  a  length  of  plates,'  and  then 
he  goes  on  with  his  work  of  skelping  the  coal  ;*  and  after  the  deputy  arrives  to  lay 
the  length  of  plates,  he  can  hardly  wait  to  give  the  deputy  time  to  fasten  them  to 
the  sleepers,  which  he  does  at  about  the  same  rate  that  a  man  putting  shingles  on 
to  a  roof,  fastens  them  to  the  shingling  lathe.  But  it  is  the  putter  who  calls  the 
loudest  for  the  deputy  when  a  '  turn'  gets  loose  or  a  plate  gets  astray  in  a  piece  of 
main  barrow-way.  The  plate  layer  will  not  give  the  putter  satisfaction  at  all  times. 
You  see  that  the  rail  or  barrow-way  plate  is  a  short  one  of  four  feet,  while  the 
wagon-way  rail  differs  from  it  in  length  only,  being  a  long  rail  of  sixteen  feet  and 
weighing  twelve  pounds  to  the  yard.  Each  barrow-way  plate,  therefore,  weighs 
sixteen  pounds,  and  being  supplied  with  two  holes  at  each  end,  it  is  quickly  laid 
and  secured  to  the  sleepers." 

"You  work  entirely  with  the  safety  lamp  in  the  broken  coaU" 
"  As  a  rule  we  do.-  We  never  see  any  gas  here,  because  the  air  in  circulation 
in  this  district  amounts  to  thirty  thousand  cubic  feet  per  minute.  The  yield  of  gas, 
as  a  usual  thing,  is  not  more  with  a  low  and  rapidly  falling  barometer  than  three 
hundred  feet  per  minute.  But  it  is  not  less  under  the  best  conditions  of  a  rising 
and  stationary  barometer  than  fifty  feet  per  minute.  You  see  the  variation  is  great, 
and  we  have  enough  air  coming  into  the  district  to  keep  it  safe  from  an  explosion 
if  the  yield  of  gas  were  four  times  as  great  as  it  is.  But  we  contrive  to  keep  the 
air  safe  from  admixtures  of  dust,  and  for  this  purpose  we  send  water  into  the 
horse  roads  to  moisten  the  dust  in  the  wagon-way.  This  is  done  by  an  automatic 
sprinkler,  which  operates  only  while  the  '  water  wagon'  is  in  motion." 

"  There  are  a  number  of  acres  of  coal  pillars  worked  off  in  your  mine.  If  into 
this  large  space  gas  were  to  be  forced  through  a  rent  or  an  opening,  and  make  its  way 
into  the  goaf  this  space  would  form,  what  would  be  the  consequences "?" 

*  Skelping  is  a  term  locally  used  in  the  north  when  the  coal  is  cut  with  the  pick,  instead  of  being 
blasted  with  an  explosive. 


70  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"  Simply  the  gas  would  force  its  way  into  the  air  skirting  the  goaf,  and  very 
likely  an  explosive  mixture  would  be  the  result  at  that  point  only.  But  I  have  an 
idea  that  where  the  coal  is  well  cleaned  out,  and  the  roof  let  down  evenly,  no  very 
serious  escape  of  gas  is  possible ;  because  in  case  of  an  upper  coal  seam  the  roof  will 
not  break  to  pieces  in  falling  into  a  seam  of  coal  of  this  thickness,  or  one  thicker 
than  live  or  six  feet.  Beyond  a  certain  height,  very  limited,  the  strata  will  sink  en 
nutsse,  and  no  break  will  occur.  Below,  on  the  bottom,  the  falls  of  roof  allow  the 
superincumbent  strata  to  sink,  and  the  pressure  soon  becomes  the  same  on  the 
underlying  strata  that  it  was  before  the  coal  seam  was  worked.  Except  we  strike  a 
fault  running  through  a  strata,  I  am  not  concerned  about  the  gas  coming  from  other 
seams  of  coal  than  the  one  in  which  I  am  working.  A  fault,  running  through  the 
measures,  if  it  is  not  charged  with  water  is  very  likely  to  act  as  a  drain  to  let  out 
the  gases  of  the  coal  measures,  in  some  cases  extending  to  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
And  some  of  those  faults  allow  much  of  the  gas  to  go  to  the  surface  if  water  docs 
not  clog  up  the  channels  and  prevent  its  escape,  which,  however,  is  more  of  a  rule 
than  an  exception.  But,  as  far  as  the  yield  of  gas  from  the  pillars  is  concerned,  we 
know  almost  how  much  to  expect  and  when  to  expect  it ;  and  if  we  are  not  pre- 
pared for  our  old  enemy  of  the  mines,  in  ordinary  workings,  it  is  our  own  fault ; 
because  we  have  had  a  great  deal  of  varied  experience  with  it,  and  have  applied 
a  number  of  tests  to  it ;  according  to  the  universal  conclusion  of  our  most  learned 
in  such  matters,  the  only  way  to  conquer  it  is  to  watch  it  and  provide  it  with  an  easy, 
airy  carriage  to  hand  it  politely  out  of  the  mines  and  into  the  atmosphere  at  the 
top  of  the  upcast  shaft." 


PLATE  Xlll 


DETAILS   OF    BROKEN   WORKINGS  71 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

DETAILS  OF  BROKEN  WORKINGS. 

"  Do  you  not  work  out  the  pillars  by  any  other  method  I" 

"  We  vary  the  method  of  taking  out  the  coal  when  the  dip  is  too  great  to  get 
the  full  tubs  out  of  a  dipping  place.  On  the  north  side  of  the  main  drifts  the  coal 
juds  are  worked  up  hill  or  to  the  rise,  as  shown  in  Plate  XIII.  The  pillars  are  split 
in  the  same  manner  as  here  on  the  south  side ;  but  the  mode  of  working  is  only 
modified,  as  said,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  away  with  the  full  tubs  with  greater 
ease.  In  a  seam  of  steaming  coal,  which  does  not  contain  so  much  gas,  we  do  not 
split  the  pillars,  because  the  pillars  are  left  only  half  the  width  they  are  here.  This  is 
because  the  value  of  such  coal  does  not  deteriorate  by  exposure,  as  does  a  pillar 
of  coal  containing  in  its  pores  much  of  the  light  coal  gases." 

"  Do  you  always  work  up  to  the  boundaries  of  a  property  before  the  pillars 
are  worked1?" 

"  At  some  collieries  they  have  followed  up  the  workings  in  the  whole  coal  by 
workings  in  the  broken.  But  instances  of  severe  explosions  at  some  of  those 
collieries  have  done  much  to  abolish  this  practice.  Our  Plate  XIV.  shows  how  this 
mode  is  practised.  You  see  that  the  goaf  is  little  more  than  two  pillars  in  the  rear 
of  the  headways  of  the  whole  coal  workings.  The  goaf  in  such  a  case  is  surrounded 
by  passages  which  are  in  constant  use ;  and  we  can  never  tell  with  any  degree  of 
certainty  how  the  gases  deport  themselves  in  a  goaf,  which  can  never  be  ventilated 
in  a  thorough  manner.  It  is  true  that  the  gases  in  a  goaf  may  often  be  drained  out 
of  it ;  the  heavy  gases  at  the  lowest  points,  and  the  light  gases  at  the  highest ;  but 
no  dependence  can  be  placed  on  the  gaseous  condition  of  the  vacant  spaces  of  a  goaf, 
if  there  be  any  such  spaces  formed.  And  even  if  the  fallen  masses  of  roof  have  been 
crushed  as  closely  as  it  is  possible  to  crush  any  loose  materials  together  by  pressure, 
there  must  be  in  all  goaves  an  aggregation  of  spaces  capable  of  holding  within  their 
limits  large  bodies  of  gaseous  mixtures ;  at  times,  possibly  explosive  in  their  character. 


72  THE   ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

We  cannot  avoid  this  bad  feature.  -A  goaf  behind  us,  advancing  and  extending 
itself,  is  like  an  enemy  gathering  behind  us  to  cut  off  our  retreat  in  time  of  war. 
This  mode  of  working  the  broken  was  the  forerunner  of  the  long  wall  system  of 
mining  coal,  which  is  becoming  the  principal  mode  of  working  coal  out  all  over  the 
world.  In  America,  we  hear  of  this  long  wall,  or  some  of  its  modifications,  being 
used  in  the  bituminous  coal  seams  of  the  west.  In  France,  a  peculiar  mode  of  long 
wall  is  practised  in  the  thick,  highly  inclined  coal  beds,  and  in  the  Staffordshire  thick 
coal,  "  long  wall"  has  been  successfully  applied.  Instead  of  forming  pillars  as  shown 
in  Plate  XIV.,  already  referred  to,  in  long  wall,  the  whole  breast  of  coal  extending 
from  A  to  B  is  carried  forward,  in  an  unbroken  line,  at  the  same  time^  and  the 
coal  is  conveyed  away  from  the  wall-face  by  means  of  gateways  formed  in  the  roof, 
as  this  settles  down  after  the  advancing  wall  of  coal.  The  goaf,  in  this  instance,  is 
traversed  by  those  gateways,  and  often  the  main  roads  are  built  through  that  part 
of  a  coal  mine,  we  have  very  generally  termed  a  goaf  in  our  maps  and  our  reports, 
and  our  writings  also." 

Goaf  is  a  term  very  generally  understood  among  miners  and  pitmen,  hence  the 
necessity  of  our  having  made  so  free  with  it  in  this  work,  both  in  the  plates  and  in  the 
text. 


PLATi'  XIV 


ffi-  ii  foOfj  tt-» 
M-Jiett  i 
ft  scx/&  rS 


~™-r       ^~         '-       LJ 

Jh-Strict  cuJb-cxncina 


REMARKS    AND    COMPARISONS.  73 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

REMARKS  AND  COMPARISONS. 

THE  chief  merit  of  the  plan  of  working  shown  in  Plate  XIV.,  consists  in 
giving  us  a  large  yield  of  coal  out  of  a  limited  area  in  a  short  space  of  time.  It  is 
applicable  to  thin  seams  of  coal.  But  long  wall  is  much  to  be  preferred  to  it  in 
every  case  where  the  roof  of  a  seam  is  reasonably  strong,  and  will  stand  until  the 
props  are  taken  out  without  breaking  up  between  them. 

"  Is  it  not  possible  to  ventilate  the  goaves  when  they  are  thus  surrounded  by 
passages  ?" 

"  You  can  only  partially  ventilate  a  goaf  at  best.  I  think  a  goaf  charged  with 
gas,  mixed  with  a  small  proportion  of  air,  even  safer  than  another  charged  with  gas 
and  air,  whose  proportions  are  seven  to  ninety-three.  In  the  neighborhoods  of  such 
goaves,  nothing  but  the  safety-lamp  can  be  used  for  purposes  of  illumination  with 
any  degree  of  safety.  Then,  in  the  horse  roads,  and  in  the  barrow-ways  too,  a  creep 
comes  on  that  cannot  be  checked,  as  it  crushes  the  pillars  into  the  floor  of  the  seam 
and  the  floor  of  the  seam  into  all  the  passages  used  for  air  and  wagon  roads; 
passages  which  must  be  kept  open  at  all  times,  by  cutting  away  the  bottom  slate 
as  it  is  lifted  up  into  the  roads  by  the  weight  pressing  upon  the  adjacent  pillars." 

"•  But,  does  this  creeping  down  of  the  roof  occur  in  various  mines  worked  by 
different  methods'?" 

"  Certainly ;  we  can  bring  the  creep  on  in  almost  any  coal  mine  by  following 
some  careless  system  of  working ;  by  beginning  to  work  out  pillars  of  coal,  first  on 
the  rise,  which  always  means  the  western  boundaries  of  a  property  in  this  coal  field. 
Then  we  break  the  strata  and  form  our  goaf  on  the  upper  side  of  our  coal.  The 
pressure  of  the  roof  acts  with  a  certain  amount  of  leverage,  whose  action  is  irresistible. 
The  upper  portion  of  the  coal  receives  the  full  force  of  such  action,  and  all  passages 
driven  in  the  neighborhood  become  completely  closed  up  after  a  few  months — or, 
in  certain  bad  cases,  weeks — after  they  have  been  opened.  A  large  force  of  night 
shifters  is  therefore  required  to  keep  open  the  main  roads.  By  working  back  from 

10 


74  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

the  dip  with  the  goaf  below  us,  or  by  working  back  in  the  direction  of  the  headways, 
we  avoid  much  of  that  scourge  called  the  creep." 

"  You  prefer  to  work  by  board  and  pillar  from  motives  of  safety "?" 
"  In  some  cases  only.  I  should  use  all  the  means  in  my  power  in  a  new  mine  to 
work  by  long  wall.  But  there  are  cases  where  the  board  and  pillar  method  would 
answer  much  better  than  the  long  wall.  For  instance,  a  body  of  coal  left  in  some 
out  of  the  way  corner,  having  an  area  too  small  to  make  it  worth  the  trouble  of 
starting  gateways,  could  be  worked  advantageously  by  board  and  pillar.  In  some 
of  the  thick  coals  which  have  good  hard  roofs  over  them  a  modification  of  board  and 
pillar  might  be  used.  Still,  I  think  I  should  not  use  the  system  in  seams  thicker 
than  eight  feet  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  except  in  mines  of  limited 
areas ;  and  a  prop  eight  feet  in  length  is  a  very  unmanageable  piece  of  timber  in  a 
mine,  except  there  be  two  men  to  handle  it  at  all  times.  To  draw  such  timber  is 
not  a  very  safe  performance ;  to  lose  such  timber  is  not  economical." 

"  Yet  in  long  wall  you  must  necessarily  use  props  in  an  eight  feet  seam  ]" 
"  Not  if  the  seam  have  a  division  in  it  somewhere  near  the  middle  of  it.  We 
take  out  the  upper  portion  of  the  seam  first,  and  follow  up  with  the  remainder  at  a 
safe  distance.  The  props  might  be  less  than  five  feet  in  that  division  of  the  coal  which 
is  the  greatest.  In  very  thick  coals,  you  know  very  well  that  the  coal  is  worked  as 
if  it  were  several  distinct  seams.  A  layer  of  coal  is  taken  out  nearest  the  roof, 
and  the  roof  is  let  down  on  to  the  layer  of  coal  under  it;  and  as  a  good  roof 
conies  down  in  large  pieces,  if  it  does  not  come  down  en  masse,  it  is  just  as  easily 
managed  over  the  second  layer  of  coal  while  this  is  being  taken  out  as  it  is  over 
the  first ;  and  so  on,  till  we  get  the  roof  down  to  the  bottom  slates  on  which  it  is  to 
rest.  Pillars  of  the  thick  coals  cannot  be  treated  in  this  way  ;  therefore,  if  props  are 
to  be  used  in  the  working  of  them,  they  must  be  equal  in  length  to  the  thickness 
of  the  seam.  Nevertheless,  there  are  a  number  of  mining  managers  who  stick  to 
the  old  system  of  forming  pillars,  and  waste  by  it  lots  of  timber,  and  millions  of 
tons  of  coal  annually,  in  the  thick  seams  of  different  countries.  The  thick  coals  of 
America  suffer  more  from  slovenly  mining  than  do  the  thick  seams  of  our  European 
countries.  But  in  America  the  mines  are  leased  to  '  operators'  who  pay  their  rents 
or  tolls  at  a  certain  rate  per  ton,  after  it  is  mined  and  cleaned.  The  waste  is  enor- 


REMARKS    AND    COMPARISONS.  75 

mous,  and  the  land-owner  is  made  to  stand  the  greater  part  of  this  loss,  not  only 
of  what  is  lost  in  the  shape  of  crushed  pillars,  but  that  taken  to  the  dirt  bank,  that 
familiar  monument  which  is  built  on  the  grounds  of  every  large  colliery." 

"  But  America,  you  know,  is  a  new  country,  and  the  capital  of  their  mining 
concerns  must  be  built  out  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  mines.  iSo  it  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  they  will  take  the  readiest  way  of  getting  out  the  coal  from  their  mines 
in  order  to  get  ahead  and  lay  by  a  certain  stock  of  capital  before  they  can  be  very 
nice  in  such  points.  Then,  is  it  not  more  expensive  to  lay  off  and  work  large  thick 
seams  of  coal  by  long  wall  than  it  is  by  the  system  of  board  and  pillar  as  it  is  used 
in  America?" 

"  Yes  and  no.  Yes,  because  in  America  trained  miners  and  bosses  are  the 
exceptions,  and  the  miners  are  left  to  work  so  much  according  to  their  own  ideas, 
that  it  would  not  at  many  places  be  prudent  to  set  them  to  work  on  the  long  wall 
plan.  Both  miners  and  their  bosses  would  have  to  be  picked  carefully  from  among 
the  people  working  in  the  mines.  Until  the  system  of  long  wall  gets  a  good  start 
in  America,  so  as  to  get  the  miners  practised  to  work  it,  it  would  occasion  some 
expense.  In  the  West  there  are  good  opportunities  to  begin  long  wall,  because  the 
seams  lie  very  favorably — slightly  inclining — and  are  not  so  thick  as  they  are  in  the 
anthracite  coal  fields.  If  men  are  employed  to  work  on  the  system  of  long  wall 
who  have  not  been  trained  to  it  for  a  short  time  at  least,  the  system  will  be  more 
expensive  to  work  than  board  and  pillar,  which  all  miners  seem  to  understand  suffi- 
ciently to  work  to  tolerable  advantage,  were  their  labors  well  directed  by  competent 
mining  managers.  It  would  not  be  more  expensive  to  lay  off  and  work  long  wall  if 
a  good  corps  of  gateway  men  could  be  obtained,  with  a  good  foreman,  having 
practical  experience  at  such  work." 

"  Then  you  prefer  taking  out  pillars  by  working  back  in  the  direction  of  the 
levels,  beginning  at  the  dip  or  with  those  levels  driven  on  the  lowest  part  of  the 
boundary?" 

"  Certainly ;  and  never  on  the  highest  levels  unless  circumstances  are  extremely 
favorable,  or  for  some  reasons  it  be  imperative  to  do  so.  If  the  dip  is  above  25°  it 
will  not  be  prudent  to  begin  on  the  dip,  because  the  upper  portion  of  the  coal  will 
be  in  a  manner  undermined  by  the  lower  portions." 


76  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"  In  the  pillars  of  the  south  side,  as  per  Plate  X.,  the  juds  are  worked  oft'  to 
the  right  and  left  of  the  headway  splitting  the  pillar;  do  you  ever  depart  from  this 
plan  to  any  extent  ?" 

"  Where  the  pillars  are  thick  and  the  boards  are  choked  up  we  split  the  pillars, 
in  the  manner  shown  on  Plate  XIII.,  and  if  the  dip  is  great  we  work  only  that  coal 
on  the  rise  of  the  splitting  headway.  We  get  the  other  coal  left  below  the  splitting 
headway  by  shearing  off  a  poi'tion  of  coal  along  the  high  side  of  the  old  board  at  the 
points  designated  by  A  in  the  same  Plate.  The  juds  B  and  C  may  thus  be  worked 
off  simultaneously.  Wre  save  the  expense  of  helpers  to  get  out  the  full  tubs,  and  the 
men  fill  down  hill  instead  of  up  hill,  which  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  in  the 
performance  of  a  day's  work,  where  so  much  coal  must  be  handled  by  the  men. 
But  as  far  as  working  the  coal  is  concerned,  the  system  is  not  at  all  changed." 

"  As  it  is  a  considerable  length  of  time  before  the  broken  of  an  extensive  coal 
mine  can  be  worked,  when  you  adhere  to  the  plan  of  working  backwards,  in  what 
condition  do  you  generally  find  the  pillars  and  the  excavations  surrounding  them  ?" 

"  Very  often  they  are  closed  up.  Some  of  the  boards  are  closed  by  falls  of  roof 
and  others  are  closed  by  an  upheaval  of  the  floor.  From  this  latter  fact  we  have 
applied  the  term  metal  ridge  or  rig  to  the  material  found  in  all  such  closed-up 
places.  In  working  the  broken  in  such  mines,  we  are  obliged  to  tunnel  through  the 
metal  rigs ;  and  then  we  either  split  the  pillars,  if  they  are  of  a  sufficient  thickness,  or 
skirt  along  the  old  boards  by  taking  off  a  strip  of  coal.  (See  Plate  XV.*)  When 
such  places  are  worked,  the  metal  rigs  are  a  source  of  trouble  and  expense ;  and  this 
expense  is  greatest  where  the  pillars  have  been  left  the  smallest  in  area.  In  some 
of  the  oldest  mines  much  of  the  coal  left  in  pillars  over  a  hundred  years  ago  has 
been  mined ;  and  at  the  present  time  many  mines  are  working  out  the  old  pillars. 
At  the  Lambton  and  Washington  and  other  collieries,  works  are  in  progress  getting 
out  the  pillars  of  the  old  mines.  We  find  such  pillars  to  be  as  a  rule  thin ;  but 
there  is  quite  enough  coal  in  them  to  well  repay  the  trouble  and  expense  of  working 
them  out.  Plate  XV.  shows  the  manner  of  working  through  the  metal  rigs  of  those 
mines  when  the  bottom  is  lifted." 

*  Plate  XV.  shows  how  the  drifts  of  an  old  mine  are  often  found  closed  up  by  the  creeping  in  of 
the  bottom  slate.  It  shows  also  how  these  old  mines  are  operated  the  second  time  over  by  driving 
through  those  metal  ridges  formed  in  the  old  excavations. 


X 


aifj    Coal    ~by  Crvssuuy 
Metal  Jfide/es   of  tTu-    old 


y  Boor  Tain .  Lr-Ii.  Kiil 


REMARKS   AND   COMPARISONS.  77 

"As  you  work  forward  toward  the  boundaries  of  your  mines,  we  are  to  under- 
stand that  the  board-rooms  always  close  up  by  the  upheaval  of  the  bottom  or  by  the 
falling  in  of  the  roof?" 

"  In  many  cases  this  is  so ;  but  there  are  instances  of  places  standing  securely 
for  nearly  a  century.  Much  depends  on  system.  For  instance,  as  we  work  boards 
to  make  coal  as  well  as  to  block  out  the  pillars,  we  should  work  those  boards 
narrowest  which  are  the  nearest  to  the  main  roads  and  the  furthest  from  the  boun- 
daries, because  those  boards  are  the  first  within  a  district  to  be  opened ;  and  for 
this  reason  the  pillars  they  surround  stand  the  longest  under  the  weight  of  the  roof; 
if  this  should  lose  its  lateral  support  there  would  be  a  crushing  down  of  the  roof  on 
those  pillars  in  the  vicinity.  We  do  all  we  can  to  avoid  the  pressure  being  brought 
on  to  those  boards  nearest  the  main  roads  which  run  through  the  central  part  of  the 
property  (royalty  we  term  it  in  our  phraseology),  and  we  leave  the  pillars  as  large 
as  circumstances  will  allow  us  to  do  to  prevent,  as  much  as  we  can,  the  creeping 
down  of  the  roof.  But  a  roof  which  contains  abundant  supplies  of  the  bisulphate 
of  iron  (pyrites)  chips  off  and  falls  into  and  closes  up  the  board-rooms  in  spite  of  all 
we  can  do  to  prevent  such  an  occurrence." 


78  THE    AKT    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

RE-WORKING  OF  OLD  MINES,  "  METAL  RIGS,"  AND  OLD  COAL  PILLARS. 

"  IN  Plate  XV.,  showing  the  mode  of  opening  work  through  old  board-rooms 
closed  up  by  ridges  lifted  from  the  bottom  slate,  the  pillars  are  small ;  such  as  they 
were  made  a  century  ago,  in  such  mines  as  Ravensworth,  Fatfield,  Lampton, 
Washington,  Black  Fell,  and  others  opened  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  These 
are  the  oldest  of  our  mines  worked  at  the  present  time,  and  the  matter  found  in  the  old 
board-rooms  of  such  mines  is  very  compact,  whether  it  is  from  falls  of  roof,  or 
upheavals  of  the  floor.  In  case  of  the  ridges  being  thrown  up  from  the  bottom 
slate,  it  presses  so  tightly  against  the  roof  as  to  form  a  very  excellent  means  of 
support,  being  in  fact  nothing  less  as  a  whole  than  a  network  of  pillars,  standing 
as  regularly  and  systematically  as  the  places  were  driven  in  which  they  have  formed  ; 
and  we  find  the  old  workings  of  those  mines  referred  to  driven  very  regularly;  that 
is,  the  boards  are  found  very  nearly  at  equal  distances  apart,  and  they  approximate 
very  closely  to  parallel  lines.  When  we  have  falls  in  the  old  board-rooms,  the 
material  of  which  has  not  become  packed  closely  by  a  long-continued  action  of 
pressure,  we  use  timber  to  keep  the  loose  stones  remaining  above  the  height  we 
require  for  a  passage  from  coming  down.  It  requires  careful  men  to  timber  such 
places.  The  greatest  trouble  we  have  to  contend  with  in  them  seems  to  be  in 
getting  in  the  first  set  of  timber  after  we  leave  the  coal,  and  also  the  securing  of  the 
last  set  of  timber  on  reaching  the  coal  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  old  board-room,  or 
other  excavation.  This  is  owing  to  that  line  above  the  edge  of  the  coal  pillar  being 
comparatively  straight,  and  this  facilitates  the  starting  off  of  the  slates  and  rocks. 
In  the  more  central  part  of  the  old  boards,  the  rocks  or  slates  are  interlocked 
with  each  other  in  such  a  manner  as  to  support  themselves  laterally.  But,  if  by 
carelessness,  some  of  the  rocks  get  a  start  near  to  one  side  or  the  other  of  an  old 
board-room,  it  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  avoid  a  '  runaway'  of  the  balance.  This 
is  the  more  liable,  if  the  '  stuff'  in  the  board-room  is  of  a  friable  nature,  or  lies  in 


RE-WORKING    OF   OLD    MINES.  79 

small  cubical  pieces.  I  have  seen  a  hole  in  the  timbering,  not  larger  than  your 
head,  empty  all  the  rubbish  off  the  '  forepoling'  of  the  timber  work,  in  just  the  same 
manner  as  if  it  were  a  body  of  gravel.  Such  loose  material  will  run  off  like  a  mass 
of  shingle  or  pebbles.  But  generally  those  '  metal  rigs'  are  managed  very  well, 
whether  they  be  composed  of  matter  from  the  bottom  or  from  the  top  of  the  seam. 
The  reason  of  this  is  because  such  work  is  done  by  the  '  shifters'  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  '  maister  shifter,'  and  this,  with  the  bulk  of  the  repairing  of  the  working 
roads — not  including  the  returning  air  roads — is  performed  during  the  night.  But 
on  certain  pressing  occasions,  if  a  hewer  strike  into  a  metal  rig  during  the  early  part 
of  his  shift,  he  is  employed  to  cut  through  it,  and  paid  according  to  the  time  he  is 
at  work  in  such  a  place,  together  with  an  allowance  called  '  consideration  money,' 
which  is  supposed  to  compensate  for  any  loss  of  time  incurred  in  such  an  event.  The 
deputies  regulate  such  matters,  being  always  on  the  ground,  and  more  competent  to 
do  justice,  both  to  the  owners  of  the  colliery  and  to  the  men  who  perform  this  or 
any  other  necessary  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  colliery." 

"  How  far  can  you  drive  your  headways  in  a  given  time  in  the  whok,  when  the 
coal  is  of  ordinary  hardness ;  such  coal,  for  instance,  which  has  not  been  drained  of 
its  elastic  gases  by  approximate  workings  ?" 

"  We  can  drive  the  headways,  opening  the  coal  panels  at  the  rate  of  half  a  mile 
a  year,  without  the  least  hurry." 

"  Then,  to  work  off  half  a  mile  of  panel  it  will  require  four  times  this  length  of 
time  at  least  ?" 

"  It  will  require  five  years  to  open  and  work  off  a  panel  of  coal  half  a  mile  in 
length,  if  the  seam  is  a  thin  one,  and  one  which  may  be  worked  off  at  the  first  working. 
In  the  Lancashire  coal  mines,  and  in  some  others,  where  the  dip  is  above  15°, 
the  panels  of  coal  are  not  laid  off  and  divided  into  pillars,  as  here  described  until 
the  main  headways  of  each  district  or  panel  have  reached  the  mine's  limits. 
Occasionally,  however,  the  panels  of  coal  lying  between  any  two  pairs  of  headways 
are  intersected  by  places  driven  in  pairs  to  the  drifts  on  the  rise.  In  such  works, 
all  the  levels  or  endways  are  driven  in  pairs,  and  in  some  cases  triplets,  at  a  distance 
apart  to  suit  the  ideas  of  the  manager,  and  those  pairs  or  sets  of  drifts  are  connected 
together  at  short  intervals  of  may  be  300  feet  to  shorten  the  air  course  and  carry 


80  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

the  air  forward.  As  soon  as  the  boundaries  of  a  mine  are  reached  by  this  plan, 
operations  of  working  the  coal  panels  out  may  be  commenced  at  once  by  blocking 
them  out  into  pillars.  This  is  done  by  commencing  to  cut  headings  or  endings 
backwards,  and  on  making  the  board-room  connections  at  equal  distances  apart 
we  have  the  board  and  pillar  system  before  us  again ;  but  it  is  so  modified  that 
instead  of  advancing  we  get  our  coal  by  retreating  from  the  boundaries.  By  such 
a  practice,  a  panel  of  coal  half  a  mile  long  by  one  hundred  yards,  or,  in  some 
cases,  two  hundred  yards  in  width,  may  be  worked  out  in  five  to  seven  years.  We 
are  premising  the  thickness  of  the  coal  to  be  from  three  to  five  feet,  the  thickest 
beds  requiring  the  longest  periods  to  be  worked  out.  But  where  the  dip  is 
considerable,  it  is  seldom  that  the  distance  between  the  pairs  of  headways  exceeds 
one  hundred  yards.  In  the  thick  highly  inclining  coal  beds  of  France,  this  system  of 
working  was  much  practised  until  quite  recently.  In  that  country,  under  favorable 
circumstances,  and  with  good  management,  very  good  results  have  been  obtained 
by  its  practice ;  but  the  mined  coal  was  often  covered  by  the  falling  rocks,  so  much 
so  that  it  has  almost  been  abandoned.  In  Lancashire  this  modification  of  board 
and  pillar  is  still  in  general  use.  For  the  mining  of  coal  lying  in  seams  less  than 
seven  feet  in  thickness,  its  main  objection  consists  in  the  deferred  production,  owing 
to  the  length  of  time  required  to  advance  the  levels  to  the  mines'  extremities.  By 
laying  off  the  shafts,  so  that  the  distance  to  the  boundaries  will  be  much  less 
on  one  side  than  on  the  other,  the  full  produce  of  a  mine  may  be  sent  out  from 
the  short  side,  whose  drifts  have  been  driven  home,  and  the  broken  commenced, 
even  while  the  headways  are  still  advancing  on  the  side  farthest  from  the  boundaries. 
In  many  mines  lying  on  a  low  inclination  where  the  creep  may  be  kept  off  for  a  great 
length  of  time,  it  may  be  more  prudent  to  mine  out  the  coal  of  a  panel  half  a  mile  in 
length,  within  eight  to  ten  years,  instead  of  within  five  to  seven.  In  other  words,  the 
panel  of  coal  worked  out  as  in  Lancashire,  requiring  five  years,  would  not  be  worked 
out  in  the  Newcastle  Coal- Field — as  a  general  rule — in  less  time  than  eight  years, 
because  the  pillars  being  cut  out  while  advancing,  so  large  a  yield  of  coal  is  obtained 
from  the  board-rooms  and  headings  as  to  render  the  pushing  forward  to  the  mine's 
limits,  only  a  matter  of  secondary  importance." 


0'    THt 

UNIVERSITY 


-RLATKXVl. 


GENERAL   REMARKS.  81 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

GENERAL  REMARKS. 

WE  are  now  in  the  OVERMAN'S  CABIN  (Plate  IX.),  of  a  well-conducted  coal 
mine ;  and,  with  the  reader's  permission,  shall  detail  the  results  of  a  familiar  chat 
concerning  the  men  and  the  mines  of  the  Canny  Newcastle  Coal  Field.  Here  the 
foundation  of  railways  was  laid.  The  willow  basket  first  used  by  the  old  women 
who  carried  coal  home  to  kindle  fires  and  boil  their  teakettles,  grew  into  the  corf 
made  of  hazel  sticks.  The  handle  of  this  became  a  boiv  of  iron.  Then  it  was 
too  heavy  for  a  strong  man  to  carry ;  so  he  placed  it  on  a  frame  running  on  small 
wheels  which  he  called  a  tram,  and  pushed  it  over  the  smooth  floor  of  the  coal 
seam.  The  corf  grew  larger,  as  the  man  or  strong  boy  who  pushed  it  became 
more  expert,  and  this  boy  received  the  name  of  putter.  When  a  wooden  rail, 
with  its  flange  or  guide,  suggested  itself,  the  corf  grew  so  large  as  to  hold,  in 
some  instances,  five  hundred  weight.  Then,  as  the  roads  were  to  run  into  places 
started  off  the  mother-gates  and  main  headways  at  right  angles  to  them,  the  TURN 
was  invented.  But,  while  the  wooden  rails  lasted,  the  turn  never  was  very  satisfac- 
tory as  an  adjunct;  the  putter  seldom  passed  a  turn  without  jumping  the  track  and 
bestowing  on  it  his  most  emphatic  curses.  But  the  time  came,  which  brought  tram 
plates  made  of  cast  iron.  Then  a  skilful  pattern-maker,  or  joiner,  got  up  patterns  at  the 
request  of  a  clever  viewer,  and  the  cast-iron  turn,  as  it  is  shown  in  the  Plate  XVI.,* 

*  In  Plate  XVI.  we  find  some  of  the  older  mining  appliances.  The  hook  we  see,  when  in  the  hands 
of  an  expert  onsetter,  could  be  thrown  into  the  eye  of  the  corf's  bow  every  time  without  fail.  The 
details  show  us  the  corf,  tram,  tram  plates,  and  turn.  The  pointed  projections  shown  on  the  tram  were 
necessary  to  hold  the  corf  in  its  position.  To  enter  the  turn  with  a  tram,  the  putter  knew  well  how  to 
twist  his  tram  to  suit  his  particular  gaits. 

When  the  tram  and  corf  were  in  use,  little  boys  were  employed  to  brush  the  tram  plates  several 

times  a  day.      The  dust  and  fine  coal  would  trickle  through  between  the  hazel  sticks  of  which  the  corf 

was  made,  and  cover  the  road,  which  proved  to  be  a  source  of  danger,  as  well  as  an  inconvenience  of  no 

slight  magnitude  ;  of  danger,  because  of  the  dust  mixing  up  with  the  air,  to  contribute  to  the  force  of 

11 


82  THE    ART    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

was  contributed  as  an  advanced  step  towards  the  formation  of  the  modern  railway.  The 
putter  was  delighted  with  the  new  cast-iron  road  and  the  turn,  and  being  himself  the 
locomotive  engine  of  that  period,  he  was  in  the  economy  of  mining  an  important  item. 
Of  course,  the  tramway  had  crept  out  of  the  pit,  and  it  was  laid  on  a  grand  scale  on 
the  surface ;  and  wagons,  having  cast-iron  wheels,  and  carrying  a  caldron  of  coal  (about 
52  cwt.)  ran  over  the  tramway,  which  took  the  respectable  name  of  railway,  when  it 
came  out  of  that  dingy  coal  pit.  But  the  difference  between  the  railways  of  the  sur- 
face, which  ran  down  to  the  rivers  Tyne  and  Wear,  was  that  the  flange  of  the  rail 
was  transferred  to  the  wheel  of  the  wagon  !  From  this  point  of  the  railway's  history, 
improvements  came  so  thick  and  fast  then  as  to  take  the  breath  out  of  the  point  of 
a  man's  pen  now,  and,  in  his  confusion,  he  begs  to  point  at  the  magnificent 
railway  system  of  to-day ! 

Many  a  bright  fellow  has  contributed  brilliant  ideas  before  all  this  railway 
magnificence  has  been  attained.  We  find  enough  to  say  of  such  things  as  these  as 
we  sit  chatting  with  the  overman  in  his  cabin. 

Of  the  sad  times  caused  by  the  MISFORTUNES  of  the  past,  he  speaks  with  feeling 
and  intelligence.  "  We  know  more  of  gas,  now,"  he  says.  "  Our  fathers  did  not 
know  what  was  the  weight  of  a  pound  of  air  !  They  had  no  scales  like  these 
hanging  on  the  walls  of  my  cabin  to  weigh  and  balance  the  air  at  any  moment." 
He  signified  the  barometer,  which  is  to  be  observed  as  often  as  possible,  and  its 
movements  noted  as  often  as  they  are  manifested.  "  They  knew  nothing  of  the 
expansion  of  air  and  gases  by  the  action  of  heat,  nor  could  they  tell  exactly  how 
it  was  that  the  escape  of  gas  was  the  most  abundant  during  a  storm.  The  safety 
lamp  is  only  a  modern  invention  ;  they  had  not  the  benefit  of  it  at  the  old  collieries. 
They  had  their  flint  mill,  giving  them  light  from  the  shower  of  sparks  it  emitted ;  but 
they  were  very  clever  with  their  candles;  they  could  work  by  candlelight,  until  the  gas 

an  explosive  mixture  ;  of  inconvenience,  inasmuch  as  it  retarded  the  passage  of  the  tram  wheels.  The 
original  tram  wheels  were  broad  on  their  bearing  surfaces ;  but  experience  brought  out  a  wheel  with  a 
sharp  edge,  which  ran  easier  over  the  dusty  tram  plate. 

An  old  ventilating  furnace  is  shown  in  this  plate.  To  keep  the  air  passing  over  the  fire  as  near  to 
the  heat  as  possible,  an  elliptic  arch  was  used.  The  more  the  heat  given  out  to  the  air-current,  the  greater 
is  its  ascensional  force  or  draught  in  the  upcast  shaft. 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  83 

in  the  air  was  within  a  shade  of  the  firing  point.     But,  with  all  their  skill  in  the  use 
of  the  naked  light,  we  have  recorded,  in  the  past  history  of  our  mines,  the  terrible  explo- 
sions which  occurred  at  Newcastle,  Washington,  Fatfield,  Spring  well,  and  other  of  the 
old  pits.     The  deputies  and  overmen  could  not  be  at  all  points  watching  the  gas,  as  it 
strengthened  in  the  air  by  its  accumulation.    I  have  heard  tell  of  the  manner  of  lighting 
up  some  of  the  first  furnaces  used  for  the  purposes  of  ventilation.     What  would  you 
think  of  this  plan  of  lighting  up  a  furnace  by  running  a  large  link  of  red-hot  iron 
down  the  furnace  shaft  on  to  a  mass  of  combustibles  placed  on  the  grates  of  that  furnace? 
My  grandfather  tells  me  this  was  done  at  one  of  the  Fatfield  pits,  when  the  furnace 
was  quite  a  new  institution  in  the  coal  field,  and  when  the  ventilation  of  the  workings 
was  effected  entirely  by  the  means  of  coursing  the  air  all  over  the  works  in  one  single 
body,  causing  this  body  of  air  to  travel  through  all  the  passages  in  succession.     Of 
course,  with  such  ventilation  the  workings  of  a  mine  could  not  be  extended  beyond 
certain  limits.     It  was  necessary  to  sink  very  many  shafts,  in  order  to  assist  the 
ventilation.     Each  district  would  require  a  pair  of  shafts  to  ventilate  it  properly, 
an  upcast  and  a  downcast.     And  there  were  doors  at  the  end  of  every  headway's 
course;  and  a  door  in  a  main  road  is  always  an  eyesore  and  source  of  danger  as  well. 
As  you  see  by  reference  to  Plate  II.,  by  the  use  of  our  air-crossings  we  dispense  with 
doors  entirely  in  the  main  roads.     For  the  sake  of  convenience,  however,  we  use  an 
occasional  door  in  the  barrow-way  at  this  time.     But,  before  jumping  over  a  couple 
of  centuries,  we  must  say  that  the  idea  of  coursing  the  air  around  our  mines  occurred  to 
Spedding,  and  this  system  of  ventilation  was  considered  in  his  time  a  wonderful  inven- 
tion, and  we  must  so  consider  it  now.    It  was  the  origin  of  our  present  system.    When 
John  Buddie   took  the   half  of  the  main    current  of  air  descending  a  shaft,  and 
conducted  it  into  the  workings  of  one  side,  and  allowed  the  other  half  to  flow  into 
the  workings  of  the  other  side  of  the  shaft  and  ventilate  them,  there  were  grave 
remarks  made  concerning  the  wisdom  of  such  a  plan.     But,  nevertheless,  day  after  day 
succeeded  each  other,  and  the  plan  worked  well.    At  the  bottom  of  the  downcast  the  air 
separated  into  two  distinct  currents,  and  each  current  went  in  and  ventilated  a  district, 
and  then  they  both  came  out  through  the  return  courses,  bringing  off  the  gases,  and 
meeting  again  at   the  bottom  of  the   upcast,  up  which   they  went  harmoniously 
together.     I   maintain   that  each  current  was  worked  according  to  the   ideas   of 


84  THE   ART   OF   COAL   MINING   DESCRIBED   AND   ILLUSTRATED. 

Spedding.  We  can  now  extend  our  districts,  and  multiply  these  currents  (splits) 
and  provide  every  district  in  a  mine  with  a  distinct  current  of  fresh  air,  and  say  that 
we  are  indebted  for  our  fundamental  principles  to  Spedding  and  Buddie." 

"  But  the  officers  of  your  coal  mines  have  kept  well  apace  with  the  recent 
applications  of  the  arts  and  sciences  as  applied  to  coal  mining,  and  in  some  important 
cases  have  taken  the  lead  in  inventions  which  have  not  confined  their  merits  to 
mining,  but  have  become  of  great  general  use  in  the  civilization  of  the  world.  I  can 
never  stand  in  the  engine-room  of  one  of  our  splendid  Hudson  River  steamers  without 
thinking  of  the  similarity  existing  between  the  engines  of  those  steamers  and  the 
engines  you  use  to  wind  the  coal  out  of  your  shafts.  I  hear  the  gong  of  the  steamer 
giving  signals  to  the  engineer  on  duty,  and  I  think  of  the  '  rapper'  of  your  older  pit 
heaps,  which  informs  your  engine-man  to  'draw  away,'  'bend  up,'  'lower  down,'  and 
the  numerous  other  signals  you  communicate  with  the  rapper,  which  we  call  a  gong, 
being  in  principle  one  and  the  same  instrument.  Are  not  the  mining  engineers  of 
to-day  educated  in  technical  schools'?" 

"  The  technical  school  of  our  mining  engineer  is  and  has  been  and  is  likely  to 
continue  to  be  the  mine  itself;  and  every  mining  engineer  having  an  apprentice  in 
charge  is  his  teacher.  Coining  to  the  engineer's  office  with  a  good  scientific  educa- 
tion, our  young  viewer  has  to  begin  at  once  to  get  his  practical  experience,  which  is 
always  that  part  of  any  one's  education  that  comes  the  most  slowly;  but  still  he  reads 
under  the  direction  of  the  engineer  and  continues  to  complete  his  education.  We 
who  hold  the  subordinate  offices  in  a  coal  mine  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  benefited  by 
the  education  of  our  superiors.  We  become,  by  our  daily  intercourse  with  them, 
invested  with  their  ideas.  We  read  the  works  they  write,  and  as  we  consult  daily 
concerning  the  condition  of  our  mines,  we  must  agree  on  all  important  points  con- 
cerned in  the  working  of  them.  In  fact  you  may  take  the  force  of  a  coal  mine  of 
our  district,  and  you  will  find  that  it  is  a  united  force  chained  together  like  the  links 
binding  the  problems  of  Euclid.  The  trapper  is  taught  to  open  and  close  his  door. 
A  link  further  on  our  trapper  becomes  a  driver,  and  he  is  started  at  his  new  post 
with  one  of  the  canniest  horses  we  have.  His  next  step  advances  him  to  the  position 
of  a  '  galloway  driver'  or  '  pony  putter,'  when  he  begins  life  on  his  own  account ; 
because  he  then  starts  work  by  the  score  or  by  contract.  The  spirit  in  the  boy  is 


GENERAL   REMARKS.  85 

brought  out,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  he  becomes  eager  to  earn  as  much  money 
as  he  can.  As  a  driver  of  a  horse,  the  putters  would  awaken  him  out  of  any  slow, 
sleepy  movement  should  he  come  in  bye  too  tardily.  The  wagon-way  man  would 
roar  out,  '  Drive  away,  lad !  Don't  fall  asleep !'  etc.  But  the  moment  he  gets  his 
initiation  into  the  life  of  the  putter,  whether  he  have  a  pony  and  sixteen  cents  a  score 
first  rank,  or  whether  he  puts  his  coal  by  the  strength  of  his  arm  as  a  hand  putter  at 
twenty-eight  cents  a  score  first  rank,  he  needs  no  one  to  look  after  him.  As  a  pony 
putter  he  will  earn  sixty  to  seventy  cents  per  day.  As  a  hand  putter  he  will  often  earn 
one  dollar  and  a  half  per  day ;  more  money,  in  fact,  than  a  miner.  We  do  not  need  to 
'  hurry  up'  our  putter  lads ;  stimulated  by  their  running  in  opposition  to  each  other, 
the  lads  do  all  they  can  to  exceed  and  excel  each  other ;  and  it  is  astonishing  to  see 
how  bitterly  they  will  contest  with  each  other  over  a  disputed  wagon  when  two  of 
them  come  to  a  station  by  different  ways  at  the  same  time  in  a  '  dead  heat.'  They 
will  quarrel  and  get  to  blows,  even  though  they  be  the  best  of  companions  when 
out  of  the  pit.  But  this  spirit  is  the  life  of  our  mines,  and  as  it  goes  with  the  lads 
into  the  face  when  they  begin  to  cut  coal,  we  need  only  know  that  everybody  is  in 
bye  at  '  calling  course'  to  know  that  a  full  day's  work  will  be  sent  to  bank.  The 
entire  pit  may  be  a  technical  school  to  any  one  who  wishes  to  learn  in  it." 

"  You  mention  two  terms  which  need  explanation :  the  first  rank  of  the  putter, 
which  has  some  reference  to  his  price ;  and  this  '  calling  course,'  which  brings  him 
to  his  work  at  the  proper  time." 

"First  rank  means  that  when  the  average  distance  of  the  men's  places  into  which 
the  putter  goes  for  his  coal  is  eighty  yards  and  less  than  one  hundred,  he  receives 
twenty-eight  cents  for  a  score  of  tubs  brought  out  to  the  station.  At  one  hundred 
yards  we  give  the  putter  his  second  rank,  and  an  additional  price  of  a  penny  (two 
cents).  Every  twenty  yards  advance  is  an  additional  rank,  and  adds  another  penny 
(two  cents)  to  the  price  of  the  putter's  score.  The  pony  putter's  first  rank,  which 
is  less  than  one  hundred  yards,  brings  him  but  eight  pence  or  sixteen  cents  a  score; 
but  his  other  ranks,  of  twenty  yards  each,  bring  him  an  English  penny  each,  in 
addition." 

"  And  your  calling  course  is  an  institution  different  from  what  it  is  found  in 
other  coal  districts]" 


86  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"  It  is  a  regulation  which  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  us  and  to  the  men 
employed  at  our  collieries.  One  of  the  great  advantages  we  possess  over  other  coal 
districts  is,  that  colliery  owners  own  the  houses  the  men  live  in.  No  rent  is  charged 
except  a  small  nominal  sum,  kept  off  at  pay  day,  which  amounts  to  three  pence  (six 
cents)  per  week.  Coal  is  laid  down  at  our  men's  doors  without  charge.  They  pay 
no  taxes  or  church  fates.  The  colliery  houses  are  in  rows,  and  each  colliery  has  a 
village  of  its  own,  and  each  house  has  its  potato  patch,  and  many  have  flower  and 
fruit  gardens  as  well.  The  houses  being  thus  together,  the  calling  course  is  very 
easily  effected  by  some  of  our  old  miners  who  have  good  lungs  and  hardy  consti- 
tutions. The  caller  is  generally  furnished  with  a  pit  pony,  and  his  first  duty  is  to  get 
around  among  the  houses  to  call  the  fore-shift  men.  This  he  does  at  about  two  o'clock 
A.  M.,  beginning  with  the  deputies,  who  get  the  start  of  the  men  by  one-quarter  to 
one-half  of  an  hour.  As  the  men  change  their  shifts  each  week,  the  caller,  must  bear 
in  mind  this  fact  and  call  only  the  men  who  go  to  work  in  the  fore-shift.  He  is, 
therefore,  required  to  bear  in  mind  the  names  of  the  men,  who  change  from  the  back- 
shift  to  the  fore-shift  every  alternate  week.  His  next  duty  is  to  waken  up  the  lads, 
which  duty  he  performs  two  hours  later.  As  the  lads  include  all  those  who  are 
employed  in  the  transportation  department  of  the  pit  and  who  get  up  at  the  same 
time  all  the  year  round,  this  task  is  more  easy  and  is  attended  with  less  confusion 
and  perplexity.  Among  the  lads  of  the  caller's  list  you  find  the  names  of  the  banks- 
men, screensmen,  the  onsetters,  wagon-way  men,  drivers,  trappers,  putters,  and  the 
brakesmen  (enginemen).  The  caller  is  the  village  time-piece,  and  every  one  lies  in 
his  sound  sleep  until  he  calls  out  or  lets  the  rat-tat-tat  of  his  stick  fall  upon  the  door. 
He  never  leaves  a  door  until  he  receives  an  answer,  and  if  this  comes  so  tardily  as 
to  cause  an  unusual  loss  of  time,  the  caller  remembers  the  fact  the  morning  succeed- 
ing, which  is  manifested  by  the  increased  vigor  of  his  blows  on  the  sluggard's  door. 
The  caller  has  no  time  to  spend  at  the  door  of  any  one,  and  he  does  not  forget  to  let 
those  know  it  who  have  given  him  any  extra  trouble,  and  who  have  been  the  means 
of  causing  the  loss  of  a  few  seconds  of  his  time.  I  tell  you,  the  wind  may  blow,  the 
rain  pelt,  and  the  snow  drift,  the  caller  must  get  through  the  whole  of  it  and  accom- 
plish his  task  every  morning  at  the  same  time  all  the  year  round,  Sundays  and 
sometimes  pay  Saturdays  excepted.  The  shaggy  Shetland  pony,  invariably  his 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  87 

faithful  companion,  seems  to  know  as  well  as  his  master  at  which  of  the  doors  he 
must  stop,  and  he  leaves  with  his  best  gait  and  gets  to  another  door  as  soon  as  the 
satisfaction  required  has  been  signalled  from  within.  The  consequence  of  such  an 
arrangement  is  that  the  '  lads'  come  to  the  pit  at  very  nearly  the  same  time.  The 
pit  heap,  silent  and  deserted  a  minute  before  calling  course,  becomes  a  short  time 
afterwards  a  scene  of  great  activity.  The  lads  flock  in  and  descend  the  shaft  as  fast 
as  the  cages  can  run  them  to  the  bottom,  and  at  the  moment  the  last  cage  full  of 
lads  gets  to  the  bottom  the  pit  begins  coal  work,  and  seldom  do  the  ropes  remain  idle 
in  the  shaft  from  this  minute  until  it  is  time  to  quit  work." 

"  You  have  a  spare  hoisting  shaft  you  use  to  draw  the  water  out  of  the  mines 
in  those  large  tanks ;  is  this  used  for  any  other  purpose!" 

"During  the  daytime  the  tanks  are  replaced  by  cages,  and  we  draw  coal 
through  this  back-shaft.  The  cages,  to  be  handy,  stand  on  trams  and  are  readily 
hooked  on  to  the  ropes  after  the  tanks  have  also  been  run  out  of  the  shaft  on  trams 
and  disconnected.  The  trams  run  on  rails  laid  into  the  shaft  for  the  purpose. 
These  rails  work  on  hinges  and  form  gates  when  the  cages  or  tanks  are  running, 
and  they  are  adjusted  in  a  few  seconds.  They  form  also  the  guides  of  the  cage  as 
this  is  taken  to  a  higher  level  to  land  the  coal  tubs." 

"  But  this  is  not  the  question  we  wished  to  ask — if  we  are  not  getting  too  far  into 
the  mechanical  department — is  not  the  changing  of  the  men  at  half  work  a  cause  of 
delays  in  the  winding  of  the  coal,  and  would  it  not  be  preferable  to  have  a  shaft 
accessible  at  all  times  for  the  purpose  of  the  lowering  down  and  the  drawing  up  of 
men  and  for  the  sending  of  stores  into  the  mines  ?" 

"  Shafts  haAre  often  been  provided  for  these  purposes  at  several  of  our  collieries ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  coals  have  come  out  of  the  mine  in  such  abundance  as  to  be 
beyond  the  capacity  of  their  hoisting  facilities,  those  spare  shafts  generally  have  been 
changed  into  shafts  for  the  winding  of  coal.  They  may  serve  the  purpose  of  avenues 
for  the  supply  of  timber  and  other  material  after  quitting  time  as  well  as  for  the 
drainage  of  the  mine ;  but  to  see  them  idle  seven-eighths  of  a  day,  with  another 
shaft  crowded  with  business,  is  more  it  seems  than  can  be  allowed.  A  hoisting 
engine  and  a  shaft  in  this  coal  field,  with  shaft  fixtures  to  match,  are  a  very  costly 
investment,  and  to  keep  them  idle,  or  nearly  so,  would  not  be  a  prudent  measure 


88  THE    ART    OF    COAL    MINING    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


\ 


to  pursue.  As  our  ropes  can  change  each  other  with  men  on  once  a  minute,  we 
scarcely  feel  any  delay  in  the  lowering  and  drawing  of  men,  while  these  are  changing 
their  shifts  at  half  work." 

For  the  present  we  shall  bid  adieu  to  the  board  and  pillar  system  of  working 
coal,  by  calling  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  Plate  XVII.,*  which  shows  the  interior 
of  a  board-room,  the  manner  of  branching  off  the  road  into  it,  and  the  mode  of 
propping  under  a  slate  or  shaley  roof.  The  castings  of  the  turn-off  consist  in  the 
points  which  are  fixed  and  open,  the  crossing  and  the  sweeps  are  all  made  of  cast  iron. 
As  shown,  they  are  gauged  when  they  are  laid  down  so  as  to  fit  each  other,  and  the 
out  sweeps  being  struck  off  from  the  long  radius  on  the  outside,  are  the  longest,  and 
are  of  an  easier  curve  than  those  of  the  inside  rail. 

The  board  work  is  the  safest  and  more  to  the  miner's  taste  than  any  other;  and 
for  this  reason  it  is  a  mode  of  working  which  finds  favor  in  new  districts  where 
miners  are  scarce  and  where  coal  is  abundant ;  but  if  care  is  not  taken  in  the  pur- 
suance of  it,  much  coal  may  be  wasted  by  being  left  in  the  mines  in  the  shape  of 
pillars,  made  inaccessible  to  a  second  mining;  or  by  the  working  out  of  those  pillars, 
as  in  the  broJcen  workings. 

In  England,  where  this  system  is  practised,  the  coal  is  leased  by  the  acre,  and 
if  any  part  of  the  coal  is  wasted  in  the  ground,  it  is  paid  for  notwithstanding  at  the 
same  rate  as  it  would  be  if  it  were  taken  out.  In  the  United  States,  where  the  coal 
is  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  so  much  per  ton,  the  coal  is  mined  in  the  most  reckless 
manner,  and  for  this  reason  much  coal  is  wasted  in  the  mines  by  the  caving  in  of 
the  roof.  As  the  next  section  treats  of  those  mines  of  thick  coal  which  lie  on  an 
inclination  of  over  40°,  it  is  hoped  that  after  its  perusal  any  one  may  see  how  near 
to  an  impossibility  it  will  be  to  mine  out  completely  those  pillars,  when  they  are  left 
standing  at  each  side  of  a  large  excavation,  on  the  floors  of  the  seams  which  are  so 
highly  inclined. 

*  Plate  XVII.  shows  one  of  those  single  turns  which  are  used  for  the  barrow-way,  and  how  it  is 
made  of  three  pieces  of  cast  iron,  besides  the  sweeps  or  the  curved  pieces  which  are  necessary  to 
complete  the  right  angle.  It  is  laid  in  the  headway's  course  and  branches  into  the  board-room  newly 
opened  from  the  headway. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL    FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE    MINES.  89 


SECTION   III. 

HOW  COAL  IS  TAKEN  FROM  THE  HIGHLY  INCLINING  COAL  VEINS 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

TOPOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES— CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MINES. 

IN  one  of  the  gaps  through  a  coal  mountain  are  situated  the  outlets  of  an 
extensive  coal  mine.  The  mountain  is  within  the  limits  of  Schuylkill  County, 
Pennsylvania.  The  coal  strata  are  broken  entirely  through,  and  the  wide  breach 
runs  down  through  the  great  bed  of  conglomerate  on  which  the  coal  measures  rest, 
as  do  those  of  England  on  the  mountain  limestone.  But  our  breach  continues  to  a 
great  depth  into  the  red  shales  below  the  conglomerate.  The  masses  of  coal  strata 
thus  broken  apart  have  been  thrust  away  from  each  other  by  some  huge  wedge  of 
rock,  pressing  upward  on  the  red  shales,  receiving  its  motion  from  the  action  of  some 
subterranean  force  of  great  magnitude.  The  line  of  division  is  nearly  east  and  west 
and  approximating  a  parallel  of  the  main  faces  of  cleavage  peculiar  to  the  locality. 
But  here  there  are  two  great  mountains  made  instead  of  the  one  above  mentioned, 
while  in  the  breach  a  valley  of  a  pleasing  topographical  aspect,  with  its  modulating 
surfaces,  stretches  out  between  them  in  perfect  harmony  with  both.  That  mountain 
to  the  south  is  the  Broad  Mountain,  whose  ample  plateaux  have  been  a  sad  puzzle 
to  the  intrepid  explorer,  and  which  have  often  been  made  the  subject  of  some  greedy 
speculator,  too  timid  himself  to  thrust  a  drill  down  into  their  mysterious  folds  of 
stratification,  and  too  crafty  to  compromise  himself  with  any  one  more  plucky  and 
more  able  to  fathom  its  secrets. 

This  mountain,  to  the  north  of  the  valley  in  the  red  shale,  is  the  Mahanoy, 
and  the  gap  mentioned  at  the  commencement  of  this  chapter  cuts  it  clear  through ; 
and  here  the  Mahanoy  Creek  finds  its  way  from  the  valleys  lying  to  the  north,  as 
its  waters  run  off  to  join  those  of  the  Susquehanna  nearly  a  hundred  miles  to  the 

southwest. 
12 


90  THE   ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

Within  the  flanks  of  the  Mahanoy  Mountain,  the  coal  strata  are  found  dipping 
north,  and  lie  on  a  high  angle  of  inclination.  They  run  down  to  a  great  depth  below 
the  level  of  the  creek  in  the  gap.  But  they  also  run  upwards  to  a  great  height,  tipping 
up  the  outcrops  of  coal  seams  literally  into  the  clouds.  The  ridge  of  the  mountain 
is  formed  of  that  hard  enduring  rock  which  covers  the  famous  Buck  Mountain  coal. 

But  the  Buck  Mountain  vein,  important  as  it  is  in  extent  and  quality,  is  not 
the  chief  vein  cut  open  by  the  gaps.  There  is  that  Mammoth  Vein,  whose  jet  black 
diamonds  have  a  world-wide  reputation,  whose  thickness  approximates  twenty-six 
feet,  the  products  of  which  are  so  excellent  in  quality  as  to  have  acquired  such  high- 
sounding  titles  as  "  King  of  the  Lehighs,"  "  Kohi-noor,"  and  the  rest. 

The  outcrop  of  this  vein  is  on  the  flank,  and  its  place  in  the  strata  is  about  two 
hundred  feet  farther  away  from  the  conglomerate  than  the  Buck  Mountain  Vein. 

The  drifts  of  the  coal  mine  referred  to  are  driven  above  the  level  of  the  creek, 
and  they  pierce  the  Mammoth  Vein.  Confining  ourselves  to  the  operations  of  this 
Mammoth  Vein,  we  present  an  example  of  working  a  thick  coal  seam,  lying  on  a 
high  degree  of  inclination ;  and,  to  better  illustrate  all  operations  of  importance,  we 
adopt  the  second  person  to  treat  the  subject,  and  to  begin,  we  introduce  you  to  the 
notice  of  the  reader. 

In  Plate  XVIII.*  you  find  a  mining  representative  sitting  on  a  pile  of  mine 
timber,  smoking  his  pipe,  and  gazing  after  "the  trip"  that  has  just  emerged  from  the 
drift  mouth,  and  is  on  its  way  to  the  breaker. 

He  is  a  burly  Yorkshireman,  with  a  round  bloated  face,  with  whose  amplitude 
you  fancy  John  Barleycorn  has  had  much  to  do. 

"  ftan  you  give  me  employment  as  a  miner?"  you  ask. 

*  Plate  XVIII.  presents  us  with  a  view  in  the  gap  or  ravine  cutting  through  a  mountain.  Could 
we  remove  the  surface  soil,  we  would  have  the  coal  strata  before  us  as  they  alternate  with  each  other, 
like  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  as  closely  associated  together  as  only  dame  Nature  knows  how  to  connect 
and  harmonize  her  works.  "When  the  ridges  of  these  mountains  are  sharp,  and  their  sides  and  slopes 
steep,  the  strata  generally  incline  at  a  high  angle.  Fortunately,  this  places  the  coal  beds  within  easy 
reach  of  the  miner,  and  as  they  are  elevated  in  part  to  various  altitudes,  those  portions  above  the  water 
levels  of  the  neighboring  creeks  are  easily  drained.  For  reasons  already  shown,  the  timber  is  rapidly 
disappearing  from  the  surfaces'  of  the  mountains.  The  part  of  the  sketch  which  contains  the  most  of 
interest  to  the  miner  is  THE  TRIP,  which  represents  the  manner  of  transporting  the  mine's  produce,  the 
outlet  for  which  is  seen  to  the  right  in  the  form  of  the  water  level  gangway. 


l  $     m 

^    •  •    ••••-• — 


- 


PL  ATE  XIX. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL   FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE    MINES.  91 

The  effect  on  the  stout  gentleman  is  electric.  The  pipe  comes  out  of  his  mouth, 
and  the  reflections  of  his  mind,  whatever  they  may  have  been,  are  recalled,  and 
you  become  an  object  of  his  scrutiny ;  and  as  the  following  will  show,  his  criticisms 
also. 

"  Tha  wants  work  as  a  miner,  does  '  t'  better  get  a  job  as  a  machine  agent ! 
Thee  art'  n't  a  miner  !  Where  has  '  t'  worked  last  ?" 

"  I  have  worked  last  at  the  Trenton  Iron  Works,  New  Jersey." 

"  And  what  does  '  t'  want  here  1"  he  asks  scornfully. 

"  I  wish  the  kind  of  employment  I  ask  for,"  you  answer  quietly. 

"Then  thee'll  not  get  it  here,  lad,"  says  he.  rising  abruptly;  and,  starting 
towards  the  siding  in  which  the  wagons  for  an  empty  trip  are  being  collected,  he 
leaves  you  standing  alone.  He  turns  around  and  addresses  you  again : — 

"  Thee  arn't  strong  enough  for  a  loader,  or  I  should  recommend  thee  to  serve 
an  apprenticeship.  Good  day,  sonnie !"  With  this,  he  swings  his  huge  body  into 
one  of  the  empty  cars  of  the  ingoing  trip,  and  in  a  short  time  the  light  blazing  on 
his  head  is  the  last  you  see  of  him,  as  he  disappears  in  the  drift,  and  is  shrouded  in 
its  darkness.  You  feel  almost  relieved  as  you  are  left  alone  with  a  set  purpose  of 
getting  work  somewhere  as  a  coal  miner.  "  If  the  coal  mining  bosses  are  all  like 
this  one,"  you  say  to  yourself,  "  I  shall  have  a  hard  time  of  it."  But  you  are  not 
the  less  determined  to  succeed  in  getting  work,  at  whatever  hazard  or  cost.  You 
are  making  up  your  mind  to  put  your  finer  feelings  into  the  most  secure  part  of 
your  nearly  empty  pocket  book,  and  harden  yourself  for  further  rebuffs,  if  not  from 
the  boss  who  has  left  you,  from  some  other  whom  you  will  seek  at  some  of  the  other 
mines. 

"  An'  is  it  a  job  you're  looking  for?" 

You  turn  around  to  see  who  it  is  that  asks  the  question.  At  the  other  end  of 
a  large  pile  of  timber  are  two  men  engaged  in  making  gangway  timbers,  such  as 
you  see  them  to  be  in  Plate  XIX.,*  representing  the  entrance  to  a  gangway. 

*  In  Plate  XIX.  a  set  of  gangway  timbers  is  shown  ;  two  legs  and  a  collar.  Pitch  pine  is  more 
particularly  recommended  for  mining  purposes  than  any  other  kind  of  timber.  The  resinous  matter 
preserves  the  fibre  of  the  wood,  and  prevents  it  from  rotting.  In  the  summer  season,  when  the  air 
contains  a  proportionately  large  amount  of  vapor,  the  moisture  is  deposited  in  the  mine  on  the 


92  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"Come  here  and  take  a  whiff!"  calls  out  the  same  voice  imperatively. 

As  you  go  towards  him,  the  honest-looking  Irishman  lights  his  pipe,  and  seats 
himself  on  one  of  the  gangway  legs  he  has  shaped  out,  his  companion  strictly 
following  his  example. 

You  tell  him  that  you  certainly  wish  employment  in  the  mines.  "  Then  there's 
all  the  work  here  that  you  want,  me  hearty.  But  whisper !"  exclaims  he,  in  an  air 
of  mock  mystery.  "  There's  a  tavern  beyant ;  you  see  it  at  the  end  of  the  hill.  Go 
there  and  stay  till  the  boss  comes  home.  If  you  stay  there  all  night,  and  have  a 
silver  bit  to  spend  at  the  bar  with  the  old  woman,  you'll  have  a  job  in  the  morning 
sure !" 

Patrick's  meaning  was  as  kind  as  his  words,  which  explained  the  situation  at 
once. 

various  surfaces  ;  and  those  substances  which  absorb  moisture  take  it  up  to  the  point  of  saturation. 
When  any  kind  of  timber  is  used  in  mines  which  absorbs  moisture  readily  from  an  atmosphere  sur- 
charged with  it  to  give  it  out  again  into  an  air  containing  a  less  amount  of  moisture  than  its  point  of 
saturation  requires,  such  timber  seems  to  be  unsuited  for  mining  purposes  in  all  climates  where  the 
variations  of  external  temperature  are  frequent,  and  of  a  considerable  degree.  The  resinous  timbers 
are  selected,  because  they  resist  the  atmospheric  changes  better  than  any  other  to  be  had  in  any 
considerable  abundance. 

In  the  sketch,  the  manner  of  setting  up  the  timbers  is  shown,  and  also  the  mode  of  entering  the 
hillside  for  water  level  works. 

The  timber  is  represented  as  being  set  close  together.  This  is  done  in  the  deeper  mines,  whose 
gangways  are  subjected  to  the  crushing  effects  of  the  abandoned  upper  levels,  where  the  pillars  have  been 
robbed.  The  sets  of  timber  are  set  apart  a  certain  distance  when  the  gangway  is  first  opened,  but  in  a 
short  time  the  relief  timbers  are  set  up  when  they  are  as  close  together  as  they  are  shown  in  the  sketch. 
A  few  laggings  are  shown  over  the  collar,  and  behind  the  legs.  A  main  gangway,  in  a  lower  level, 
will  consume  about  a  thousand  feet  of  the  best  timber  to  each  lineal  yard,  after  it  has  been  supplied 
with  the  reliefs,  and  as  a  monkey  gangway  eats  up  a  great  deal  of  timber  also,  the  timber  bills  of  coal 
mines  form  heavy  items  in  the  working  expenses  of  them.  Much  of  the  trouble  caused  by  the  breaking 
of  timber  may  be  avoided  by  driving  the  main  roads  in  the  bottom  rocks  of  the  large  veins,  and  in  the 
top  rocks  of  the  small  ones.  This  latter  is  the  plan  followed  in  countries  where  long  wall  is  practised  ; 
the  gateways  are  the  roads  cut  out  of  the  roof,  as  this  is  lowered  to  the  floor  after  the  coal  is  cut  away. 

The  thickness  of  the  timber  is  from  twelve  to  eighteen  inches ;  the  laggings  are  from  a  few  inches 
to  five  or  six  ;  the  butts  of  saplings,  in  fact.  At  times  there  are  used  laggings  split  from  logs  in  the 
manner  of  fence  rails.  When  timber  is  set  under  the  solid  strata,  care  should  be  used  in  placing  the 
wedges.  These  should  be  placed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  the  weight  from  lying  on  the  middle 
of  the  collar. 

As  an  item  of  great  expense,  it  is  important  to  economi/e  in  this  particular. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL    FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE    MINES.  93 

"  The  Miners'  Arms"  was  the  home  of  the  miner  boss.  His  wife,  a  thin,  pale 
woman,  working  off  her  existence  between  the  bar  and  the  kitchen,  was  a  slave  to  this 
big  brute.  You  learn  that  the  Yorkshireman  had  his  own  way  in  nearly  everything  at 
the  mines  which  belonged  to  a  family  long  residing  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He 
had  absolute  control  of  the  men  and  the  work ;  charged  the  owners  and  paid  the 
men,  retaining  board  and  beer  bills,  which  were  always  of  great  consequence ;  so 
much  so,  that  in  a  few  years  the  boss  became  wealthy,  and  the  owners  of  the  mine 
poor ;  rich  as  was  the  mine  in  natural  resources,  and  having  the  advantage  of  being 
bountifully  supplied  with  stock  and  stores  of  all  kinds.  But  what  you  foresaw  at 
the  hint  given  by  the  Irish  timber  man  was  realized  in  a  few  brief  years ;  the  tavern 
thrived,  and  the  mine  soon  became  bankrupt. 

Of  course  you  did  not  go  to  the  Miners'  Arms  and  take  up  your  quarters,  and 
YOU  had  to  look  farther  than  this  for  a  dav's  work. 

*  J 

On  the  northern  side  of  the  coal  basin  is  another  large  coal  mine  working  out 
the  coal  from  the  same  mammoth  vein,  having  an  anticlinal  dip  and  another  out- 
crop. 

At  this  you  find  the  head  boss  in  the  carpenter  shop  driving  together  the  frame 
of  a  car.  He  drives  the  piece  home  over  its  tenons  and  critically  examines  the  fit, 
The  piece  completes  the  base  of  the  car,  and  he  turns  it  over  to  bore  holes  for  the 
bolts  of  the  axle-boxes.  Satisfied  with  his  progress,  he  salutes  you  with  a  familiar 
nod,  and  encourages  you  by  an  inquiring  look.  You  state  your  object. 

"  Yes ;  there  's  the  breast  No.  8  vacant,  you  can  have  that,"  he  says ;  "  and  if 
you  are  blessed  in  the  possession  of  a  good  looking  butty,"  he  adds,  pleasantly,  "you 
can  come  to  work  any  day." 

You  wait  until  he  puts  the  boxes  of  the  car  into  their  places  on  the  frame, 
marks  off  the  holes  and  bores  them  through  the  sills,  drives  the  bolts  up  through 
and  secures  the  boxes  in  the  recesses  already  cut  into  the  frame  to  their  proper 
depth.  The  car  is  to  be  similar  to  that  shown  in  the  drawings,  Plate  XVIII.,  giving 
a  front  and  side  elevation. 

This  done,  he  springs  on  to  the  carpenter's  bench  and  takes  his  seat  near  to 
where  you  stand. 

He  takes  a  cigar  from  his  pocket,  which  you  cannot  accept  when  it  is  offered ; 


94  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

but  lighting  it  himself,  when  another  gentleman  in  a  blouse,  having  a  red  head  and 
very  red  nose,  and  being  very  much  deformed  and  crippled  by  some  accident,  comes 
in  and  leans  against  the  bench  near  you. 

"  Have  you  got  board  ?"  the  boss  asks  of  you,  without  taking  the  slightest 
notice  of  the  red-headed  man  in  the  blouse. 

You  answer  in  the  negative. 

"  You  can  take  the  young  fellow  over  to  your  house,  Dave,"  says  the  boss, 
addressing  the  man  in  the  blouse,  whose  odor  savored  so  much  of  that  so  familiarly 
associated  with  men  whose  occupation  is  to  saw  timber  and  work  much  in  sawdust, 
that  you  conclude  the  new-comer  to  be  a  timber  maker  similar  to  those  you  have 
encountered  at  the  colliery  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley  or  coal  basin. 

"  We  have  plenty  of  room  over  there ;  but  the  missus  is  out  just  now,"  says 
Dave,  in  answer  to  the  boss's  remark  or  order  or  interrogation,  you  do  not  know 
exactly  which.  "  You  can  go  over  and  see  what  Ann  says,"  he  adds,  "  and  tell  her 
you  will  be  at  supper." 

Ann  is  the  "  girl,"  and  seems  to  possess  the  confidence  of  the  "  missus."  You 
see  that  Dave  is  an  importation  from  South  Wales.  Dave  pulls  a  dirty  black  pipe 
out  of  a  hidden  receptacle  in  his  blouse  and  stuffs  it  full  of  bird's  eye.  And  the  pipe 
goes  into  full  blast  at  once.  The  stem  fits  in  a  pair  of  grooves  worn  in  the  protrud- 
ing lips  by  long  usage,  which  reminds  you  of  the  grooves  of  a  pair  of  guide  rolls  used 
to  roll  telegraph  wire.  As  you  do  not  go  to  see  Ann,  the  boss  again  engages  you  in 
conversation. 

"  What  have  you  been  accustomed  to  do  1"  asks  the  boss,  scrutinizing  you  in  a 
critical  manner. 

"  I  have  been  brought  up  in  the  mines,"  you  answer. 

"Yes;  but  you  have  not  worked  as  a  miner,"  he  says,  rather  pleasantly,  as  if 
to  give  you  a  chance  of  speaking  for  yourself. 

"  I  have  worked  harder  than  miners  often  do,"  you  respond,  hardly  knowing 
how  to  answer  him. 

He  sees  that  you  hesitate,  and  asks  you  point  blank  where  you  worked  last. 

"  At  the  Trenton  Iron  Works,"  you  answer,  regardless  of  consequences. 

"Ah!  that's  where  our  blacksmith  is  from.  Go  and  bring  Charlie  here,"  says 
the  boss,  laughing. 


TOPOGRAPHICAL   FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS   OF    THE    MINES.  95 

Dave  comes  back  with  the  information  that  "  Charlie  will  be  here  in  a  minute." 

"  You  can  work  in  No.  8  nevertheless,  and  if  you  like  it  long  enough  to  get 
used  to  it,  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  do  as  well  as  the  rest  of  us."  The  boss  tells  you 
this  to  encourage  you,  apparently. 

You  know  the  blacksmith  as  soon  as  you  see  him.  His  face  brightens  as  he 
runs  to  you  with  an  extended  hand.  He  addresses  you  respectfully,  wondering  what 
has  brought  you  about  the  mines.  You  talk  of  old  times,  and  he  lets  it  out  that 
you  have  been  accustomed  to  make  mechanical  drawings  and  maps  to  which  he  has 
often  worked.  Another  man  has  joined  you  while  you  have  been  grouped  together 
by  the  carpenter's  bench.  He  is  of  a  dark  complexion,  with  a  stern  but  not  an  unpleas- 
ant face.  He  wears  large  boots,  into  which  his  pantaloons  are  stuffed  to  keep  them 
out  of  the  mud,  which  covers  those  boots  so  thickly.  He  has  a  lamp  burning  on  his 
miner's  hat,  and  the  blouse  he  wears  covers  well  his  underclothing  and  protects 
it  from  the  smut  and  dust  with  which  it  is  so  thickly  lined. 

"  This  is  the  inside  boss"  says  the  head  boss  to  you,  indicating  the  man  with 
the  lamp  on  his  head.  "  This  is  a  young  fellow  I  want  you  to  take  especial  care  of," 
says  the  head  boss  to  the  inside  boss,  in  a  manner  which  showed  that  he  meant  all 
he  said  against  any  or  every  objection  the  boss  should  make.  "  He  will  take  No. 
8  breast,"  he  added. 

The  inside  boss  pulled  at  the  muscles  of  his  countenance,  which  was  slightly 
distorted  thereby.  He  did  not  look  over-well  pleased.  It  was  with  lowering  eye- 
brows and  a  slightly  curling  lip  that  he  allowed  a  remarkable  English  sentence  to 
slide  over  his  tongue,  every  word  of  which  seemed  to  be  measured  by  a  scale,  and 
weighed  by  a  balance  and  toned  by  a  peculiar  revolving  inflection  impossible  of 
imitation.  "  Understand — young — man— we — want — no — one — to — work — here — 
but — miners !"  The  head  boss  looked  at  the  inside  boss,  and  mimicking  his  style 
said,  "  Bill,  this  young  fellow  has  No.  8  breast,  and  if  you  have  a  butty  for  him, 
then  send  them  to  work  there  !"  "  Very  well,"  says  Bill,  "  as  you  say."  This  in  a 
manner  which  showed  that  he  was  washing  his  hands  of  some  serious  responsibility. 
Bill  spoke  with  an  accent  purely  Cornish.  He  addressed  the  head  boss  familiarly 
as  Harry,  whom  he  informed  that  the  No.  8  breast  was  blocked  up.  "  Well,  then, 
be  good  enough  to  get  it  drawn  down  as  soon  as  possible.  Come  to  work 


96  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

to-morrow  morning,  and  tell  the  blacksmith  to  get  you  the  tools  you  need,"  he  adds, 
turning  to  you.  Harry's  cigar  is  finished,  and  he  goes  back  to  his  work  on  the  drift- 
ear,  which  he  appears  to  be  doing  for  the  sake  of  keeping  himself  occupied. 

Dave,  whose  pipe  is  glued  within  the  grooved  channels  of  his  lips,  gives  you 
the  necessary  directions  to  find  his  house  and  Ann  along  with  it,  which  is  easily 
done.  "  Ann"  you  find  feeding  a  young  fellow  about  to  go  in  on  the  night  shift, 
and  Ann's  accent  is  that  peculiar  to  North  Wales,  a  discovery  you  make  when  she 
tells  you  that  missus  will  be  in,  and  supper  ready  in  an  hour  and  a  half. 

You  go  out  to  survey  the  woods  and  fine  specimens  of  timber  there  are,  which 
seem  destined  for  the  ignoble  purpose  of  being  buried  up  in  the  coal  mines. 

Returning,  you  speculate  concerning  the  strange  life  you  are  about  to  enter, 
and  wonder  what  kind  of  a  woman  this  "  missus"  is  to  whom  you  have  been  referred 
so  often.  Is  she  little  and  ugly  like  Dave,  and  as  old  and  crabbed  as  he  appears  to 
be  \  But  you  find  a  fine-looking  woman,  whose  presence  is  commanding  and 
motherly  at  the  same  time.  There  is  not  an  ungenerous  or  stinted  feature  in  her 
countenance.  And  she  is  looking  for  you  as  you  come  from  the  woods,  to  give  you 
a  welcome  to  her  miners'  boarding-house.  You  remark  that  she  forms  the  greatest 
kind  of  a  contrast  to  Dave,  her  husband. 

She  seems  well  pleased  with  you,  and  bestows  on  you  special  favor  by  rooming 
you  with  a  young  man  who  has  charge  of  the  steam-engines  of  the  colliery.  Thus 
you  become  fairly  installed  in  your  boarding-house. 

The  writer  here  begs  to  say  a  word  for  himself,  and  on  his  own  responsibility. 

The  art  of  mining  has  been  always  treated  in  the  most  serious  and  grave 
manner.  He  begs  to  be  allowed  to  treat  the  matter  according  to  his  own  method. 
As  for  the  systems  in  use  in  the  different  mines,  and  the  modifications  of  those 
systems,  the  writer  has  taken  much  pains  to  obtain  in  the  mines  themselves  the 
necessary  information  to  deal  with  them.  He,  therefore,  wishes  to  avoid  the  usual 
compilation  of  matter  and  maps,  statistics  and  tables  found  in  other  publications. 

The  present  part  will  be  confined  to  the  one  prevailing  method  of  getting 
coal  at  the  present  time  out  of  the  thick  coal  seams  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  of 
America,  when  such  coal  seams  are  found  inclining  at  an  angle  of  45°  and 
upwards;  and  he  will  consider  it  his  duty  to  give  his  readers  faithful  descrip- 


TOPOGRAPHICAL    FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE    MINES.  97 

tions.  If  he  salt  those  descriptions  with  a  little  criticism,  and  pepper  them 
with  sarcasm  enough  to  render  them  wholesome,  then  please  don't  blame  him. 
There  are  two  grand  points  which  he  will  keep  steadily  in  view.  Those  are  con- 
cerning the  risky  nature  of  the  two  kinds  of  investments  necessary  to  work  a  mine, 
the  risk  to  capital  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  risk  to  life  and  limb  on  the  other.  Both 
of  them  suffer  terribly  in  coal-mining  speculations.  In  the  preamble,  the  principal 
characters  to  be  used  as  mediums  are  already  introduced  to  the  reader,  and  if  the 
bosses  of  a  mine  are  not  the  most  competent  to  teach  us  concerning  the  manner  of 
working  it,  to  whom  may  we  look  for  practical  instruction  ?  If  we  get  it  out  of 
crude  material,  then  the  writer  begs  to  say  again,  the  matter  will  be  only  according 
to  the  original  copy.  The  chief  aim  is  to  follow  closely  the  work  of  the  miner. 


13 


98  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COAL  FORMATIONS— DEPOSITS— UPHEAVALS. 

A  GREAT  many  theories  concerning  geological  formations  have  been  advanced 
by  the  eminent  men  who  have  spent  their  days  in  the  special  study  of  this  science. 
Before  we  can  describe  a  coal  mine  we  must,  in  a  limited  way,  examine  the  nature 
of  the  coal  strata  in  which  the  mine  is  located. 

The  whole  of  the  coal  formations  have  been  deposited  while  the  crust  of  the 
globe  in  their  vicinities  has  been,  as  far  as  violent  disturbances  are  concerned,  in  a 
state  of  comparative  or  relative  rest.  And  that  this  state  of  local  rest  has  been 
continued  over  a  great  space  of  time  in  the  geological  history,  is  evident  by  the  great 
thickness  of  these  formations  as  they  are  met  with  in  the  different  parts  of  the  globe. 
A  slow,  general  sinking  of  the  surface  has  accompanied  the  action,  while  this 
sinking  or  subsiding  has  been  checked  at  certain  times  and  accelerated  at  others. 
A  number  of  the  individual  beds  have  been  formed  very  closely  to  the  surface  of 
the  then  existing  lakes,  as  most  of  them  are  lacastrine  in  character ;  the  coals 
above,  the  slates  and  rocks  below  the  surface  of  the  waters.  The  rocks  and  slates 
are  deposits  of  the  waters ;  the  coals  are  deposits  of  the  air ;  or  at  least  they  owe 
most  of  the  ingredients  contained  in  them  to  the  vapors  and  gases  usually  found 
suspended  in  the  air ;  and  the  beds  have  been  supplied  only  to  a  certain  extent 
with  the  earthy  ingredients  which  form  their  skeletons.  It  is  very  evident  that  at  the 
last  the  whole  of  the  deposits  have  been  sunken  to  a  considerable  distance  under  the 
waters ;  while  at  a  considerable  depth  they  have  been  broken  up  and  elevated,  and 
it  is  likely  that  the  disturbance  produced  at  that  period  (and  subsequently  also 
while  the  formation  has  been  rising  to  the  surface)  has  in  a  great  measure  influ- 
enced the  surface  by  the  mechanical  action  of  the  torrents  created  with  each 
successive  geological  wave.  After  those  disturbances  have  taken  place,  it  appears 
that  the  strata  have  been  raised  up  to  the  surface ;  and  in  the  shape  we  have  them 
presented  to  us  to-day  with  only  slight  modifications.  Could  we  have  maps  of 


COAL   FORMATIONS.  99 

those  formations  made  from  actual  surveys  before  the  measures  were  submerged,  to 
compare  them  with  the  maps  of  to-day,  a  few  of  the  localities  would  present  very 
important  alterations  in  a  mechanical  point  of  view.  In  some  places  the  beds  of 
coal  have  come  to  us  in  good  condition  lying  nearly  horizontally;  in  others  the 
strata  have  been  broken  into  fragments,  if  we  may  apply  such  a  term  to  patches  of 
five  by  twenty  miles  in  breadth  and  width ;  for  such  we  find  to  be  in  the  anthracite 
coal  fields  of  Schuylkill  and  the  adjoining  counties. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  advance  any  theory  concerning  the  past  of  the  coal 
formations  farther  than  that  which  is  necessary  to  give  my  readers  an  idea  of  them  in 
their  present  condition.  One  may  well  imagine  the  effect  of  a  force  acting  on  any 
substance  possessing  all  the  qualities  of  resistance  that  the  forces  of  cohesion  and 
gravitation  accord  to  solid  substances. 

The  weight  of  that  portion  of  the  globe  including  the  coal  measures  can  hardly 
be  approximated  except  by  the  most  careful  consideration  of  geological  principles. 
But,  for  example's  sake,  suppose  a  shell  of  the  earth's  crust  five  or  six  thousand  feet 
in  thickness  extending  over  a  considerable  portion  of  the  globe,  to  be  acted  on  by  a 
force  acting  in  opposition  to  its  combined  forces  of  gravitation  and  cohesion.  If  the 
opposing  force  ever  attains  such  proportions  as  to  exceed  the  combination  of  forces 
just  named,  a  movement  will  be  the  result.  This  movement  will  be  continued  as  long 
as  the  active  force  continues  to  be  in  excess  of  the  others.  For  the  sake  of  illustration, 
let  a  bar  of  iron  be  securely  fixed  at  each  end  only,  so  that  no  movement  at  those 
points  can  be  possible.  Its  force  of  gravity  will  act,  and  there  will  be  a  certain 
amount  of  deflection,  which  will  be  greatest  at  the  centre  of  the  bar.  There  will 
thus  be  a  variation  between  the  line  following  the  centre  of  the  bar  and  the  right 
line  drawn  between  the  central  points  of  each  end,  and  this  difference  will  be  due  to 
the  elasticity  of  the  bar.  In  this  position  the  strain  is  brought  to  bear  on  the 
cohesive  force  of  the  bar,  and  there  is  no  more  movement  until  by  a  long-continued 
action  the  cohesive  force  becomes  less.  If,  however,  force,  other  than  that  due  to 
the  gravitation  of  the  bar,  be  brought  to  bear  in  sufficient  quantity,  the  cohesive  force 
can  be  overcome,  the  bar  torn  asunder  and  disposed  of  according  to  the  nature  and 
action  of  the  forces.  We  have  presumed  the  supplementary  force  to  co-act  in  the 
same  line  with  gravitation.  If  such  force  were  to  act  in  a  line  opposite  to  this,  then 


100  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

before  any  movement  could  take  place,  that  force  must  exceed  that  of  gravitation, 
and  then  the  movement  would  be  limited  until  the  force  so  acting  exceeded  that  of 
the  action  of  gravitation  and  the  action  of  cohesion  combined. 

Then  the  bar  would  be  torn  asunder,  and  its  parts  would  be  elevated  into  a 
vertical  or  inclining  position,  according  to  the  extent  of  the  movement  and  force. 
If  the  moving  mass  was  encountered  by  an  opposing  force  equal  to  the  one 
giving  it  motion,  the  movement  would  cease,  and  the  parts  of  the  bar  would  become 
fixed,  and  lie  anticlinal  to  each  other. 

The  coal  strata,  and  many  other  formations  as  well,  have  been  subjected  to  the 
same  character  of  action,  modified  in  endless  variety;  and  they  have  been  elevated 
at  the  points  where  the  ruptures  have  occurred  by  the  action  of  subterranean  force ; 
and  being  divided  into  sectionst  their  edges  have  been  tilted  up  to  form  the  tops  and 
ridges  of  our  high  mountains. 

We,  therefore,  find  the  strata  to  be  disposed  in  every  possible  position,  relatively 
with  their  planes  of  elevation  and  dips.  So  we  expect  to  find  the  beds  of  coal  lying 
at  all  angles,  from  a  few  minutes  in  some  localities,  to  ninety  degrees  in  others. 

There  is  one  feature  which  takes  a  very  prominent  part  in  all  coal  fields,  that 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  miner.  I  refer  a  second  time  to  the  cleavage  or 
crystallization  of  the  measures. 

Just  another  word  in  regard  to  this,  before  we  go  to  work  in  the  coal  mines. 

The  main  lines  of  the  cleavage  of  coal,  and,  indeed,  of  the  rocks  of  the  coal 
formation  are  long;  in  some  respects,  so  like  the  grain  of  timber  that  the  faces  have 
been  (as  we  have  seen)  termed  boards,  and  the  fractures  the  ends  of  the  coal.  The 
coal  splits  with  the  greatest  ease  in  the  main  lines  of  cleavage.  It  is  also  noteworthy 
that  the  lines  of  the  synclinal  and  anticlinal  axes  run  very  nearly  parallel  to 
the  main  lines  of  cleavage,  and  that  the  principal  ridges  of  mountains  show  a 
tendency  to  continue  in  this  line.  The  lines  of  "  dip"  of  the  anticlinals  conse- 
quently approximate  to  a  right  angle  to  those  main  lines ;  but  these  lines  of  dip  are 
modified  by  the  dips  of  the  anticlinal  and  synclinal  axes  themselves.  As  these  dip  in 
almost  every  case  at  a  rate  under  15°,  the  changes  of  the  direction  of  the  lines  of  dip  do 
not  often  vary  more  than  a  few  degrees ;  therefore,  as  the  main  lines  of  cleavage  run 
nearly  to  the  east  and  west,  the  dips  are  mostly  to  the  north  and  south.  The  ridges 


COAL   FORMATIONS.  101 

of  mountains  and  the  valleys  bearing  the  rivers  and  creeks  are  mostly  east  and 
west,  crossing  from  valley  to  valley  by  means  of  the  gaps  and  passes  which  break 
the  mountains  at  intervals  of  a  few  miles  apart.  This  principle  carried  out,  forms 
an  extensive  feature  in  the  topographical  disposition  of  the  country.  The  ridges 
run  several  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  valleys,  and  carry  the  coal  beds  away 
up  into  the  air,  to  use  a  figure  of  speech,  and  they  are  thus  placed  within  easy  reach 
of  the  miner  whose  operations,  so  far,  have  been  of  the  most  simple  order.  We 
now  refer  to  our  anthracite  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania. 


102  THE    ART    OF   MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTEK  XIX. 

MINING  OF  COAL— MINERS'  TOOLS— STARTING  THE  SCHUTES— DRILLING  AND  BLASTING. 

A  MINING  suit,  a  lamp,  a  set  of  drills  and  picks,  constitute  your  outfit.  With 
this  rig  you  present  yourself  at  the  mouth  of  the  drift,  ready  to  start  work.  The 
inside  boss  tells  you  that  you  cannot  work  in  No.  8  breast ;  you  may  start  the  schute, 
which  is  blocked  up  with  big  coal,  requiring  blasting. 

Plate  XIX.  shows  the  drift's  mouth  near  the  repair  shops,  and  near  the  foot  of 
an  inside  engine  plane  which  conveys  the  coal  as  it  comes  from  the  mine  to  the  coal 
breaker,  the  coal  being  drawn  up  the  plane  by  a  pair  of  horizontal  engines.  We 
will  now  enter  the  drift,  which  we  find  to  be  timbered  in  the  manner  shown,  with 
timber  not  less  in  any  part  than  twelve  inches  thick ;  length  of  collar  between 
notches  seven  feet ;  length  of  low  side  leg  ten  feet,  and  of  high  side  leg,  whose  foot 
is  set  in  a  hole  cut  in  the  bottom  rock,  about  eight  feet.  Space  is  provided  on  the 
low  side  for  a  water-course,  as  it  is  shown  on  the  left  of  the  railway,  Plate  XVIII. 
The  space  between  the  sets  of  timber  is  covered  by  stout  laggings,  as  shown  by  those 
you  see  behind  the  legs  and  over  the  collars.  It  is  often  necessary  to  pack  the 
spaces  behind  the  timber  by  blocking  and  wedging,  as  shown  in  the  sketches.  It  is 
a  bad  practice  to  block  the  collar  and  wedge  the  blocks  down  on  to  the  central  part 
between  the  legs,  because  when  weight  begins  to  exert  itself  on  this  point  the  collars 
break  there  with  the  greatest  ease.  Close  lagging  and  loose  packing  are  best  for  the 
central  parts  of  both  collar  and  legs.  However,  we  do  not  find  that  these  principles 
are  to  any  great  extent  carried  out.  Miners  driving  gangway  by  contract  use  the 
readiest  plan  to  lag  and  block  their  timbers,  and  we  find  the  gangway  timbers  set 
apart  from  each  other  at  a  distance  of  4'  6"  from  centre  to  centre,  so  that  if  it  be 
necessary  at  some  future  time,  there  is  room  for  sets  of  relief  timber  to  be  set 
between  those  already  in. 

When  timbered  and  lagged,  as  shown  by  the  plates  already  referred  to,  a 
gangway  does  not  look  a  very  unsafe  passage,  and  it  is  not  often  that  accidents 


PLATE  ZX 


MINING   OF   COAL.  103 

occur  in  them  from  falls  of  coal,  or  from  portions  falling  from  between  the  laggings. 
So  you  pass  on  to  the  foot  of  the  slope,  and  then  to  the  first  opening,  which  is  a 
schute  leading  to  No.  1  breast,  Plate  XX.* 

*  Plate  XX.  brings  us  to  a  plan  of  the  coal  mines  as  they  are  worked  in  the  thick  coal  seams  of 
the  United  States.  For  the  information  of  our  brothers  of  Europe,  we  must  state  that  the  mines  are 
leased  by  the  ton  and  not  by  the  acre,  as  mines  are  leased  in  other  countries ;  henc<;  a  reason  for  the 
primitive  modes  in  use.  We  must  also  state  that  these  mines  are  not  as  yet  managed  by  mining  engi- 
neers, against  whom  a  stubborn  prejudice  exists  among  those  practical  (?)  men  holding  the  executive 
positions.  A  corps  of  surveyors  we  find  in  the  region ;  but  these  seem  to  have  nothing  further  to  do 
than  to  locate  the  mines  at  their  commencement  and  survey  them  as  they  progress.  Consequently  the 
engineers  busy  themselves  with  their  maps  and  their  breakers,  while  the  boss  miner — who  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  (to  save  the  credit  of  Americans)  is  an  importation — ruins  the  properties  of  the  land-owners 
by  the  honey-combed  system  of  his  mining  operations.  By  the  plan,  we  see  that  the  breast-rooms 
alternate  with  pillars  of  great  dimensions.  The  pillars  are  laid  off  to  be  eight  yards  wide  at  their  bases, 
and  as  they  are  never  "  squared  up,"  they  are  twice  this  width  at  the  top.  The  excavations  or  breast- 
rooms  are  laid  off  to  be  driven  where  the  strata  are  in  good  condition  at  a  width  of  twelve  yards.  This 
is  on  the  bottom  bench.  On  the  top,  where  one  winged  projection  succeeds  another  until  the  top  rock 
is  reached,  the  width  becomes  gradually  contracted  until  it  is  reduced  to  eight  yards.  Then,  at  this  rate, 
under  the  very  best  of  circumstances,  one-half  of  the  coal  is  left  in  pillars.  Now,  as  the  mammoth  vein 
contains  upwards  of  sixteen  thousand  tons  of  coal  to  the  acre,  we  may  see  how  much  of  it  is  left  in  the 
ground  ;  because  no  pillar  can  be  successfully  taken  out  lying  on  a  high  inclination  after  it  has  been  sur- 
rounded by  such  enormous  excavations.  After  a  property  is  worked  out  and  the  total  quantities  of  the 
mined  spaces  are  taken  off  the  maps  and  the  actual  yield  compared  with  the  actual  quantity  of  coal  origi- 
nally in  the  vein,  it  is  found  that  there  is  seldom  a  yield  of  one-third  of  the  entire  amount.  This  is  a  severe 
loss  to  the  land-owner.  In  many  cases,  owing  to  the  large  yield  of  5000  tons  per  acre,  he  does  not 
notice  the  loss  he  sustains ;  I  say  loss,  because  to  finish  the  work  of  mining  in  those  pitching  seams, 
the  pillars  are  cut  through  at  the  first  headings,  so  as  to  connect  the  two  adjacent  spaces  or  breast  rooms, 
where  the  coal  and  the  rock  all  tumble  down,  and  become  so  incorporated  with  each  other  that  the 
rocks  in  a  short  time  come  down  and  choke  up  the  batteries,  and  this  finishes  all  operations.  In  this 
way  the  pillars  are  cut  off  from  all  connection  with  the  gangway ;  a  pretence  is  then  made  to  rob  back 
the  gangway,  and  as  long  as  the  coal  comes  from  the  stumps  above  it,  the  miners  load  what  they  can 
get  of  it.  Every  now  and  then  a  crusli  comes  on  and  closes  up  the  gangway  for  a  considerable  distance 
in  the  rear  of  the  parts  operated.  This  crush  brings  the  fallen  rock  to  the  front  after  a  certain  amount  of 
the  coal  which  has  been  crushed  out  of  the  pillars  has  been  loaded  and  sent  to  the  surface,  when  the  coal 
left  inside  of  such  rock  is  abandoned  to  the  chances  of  the  future.  On  account  of  the  inclined  position  of 
the  measures  and  the  size  of  the  excavations,  the  spaces  can  only  fill  up  by  an  incorporated  mixture  of 
the  rocks  and  the  slates  and  the  coals.  The  bottom  rocks,  however,  will  in  most  cases  remain  entire, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  of  the  coal  in  those  partially  worked  seams  may  be  reached  by 
cutting  "  gateways"  through  them.  The  figures  accompanying  this  sketch  give  the  main  features  con- 
nected with  the  airing  and  working  of  the  places  in  detail.  The  figure  to  the  left  at  the  upper  corner 
is  a  plan  on  a  flat  surface,  showing  the  mode  of  progressing  with  a  sheath  of  breasts.  The  arrows 
point  out  the  direction  of  the  ventilation  through  the  headings  and  manways. 


104  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

A  schute  is  a  passage  turned  from  the  gangway  at  right  angles,  and  it  is  driven 
about  nine  feet  wide  and  five  feet  high  and  timbered,  as  shown  in  Plate  XXI.* 
The  instance  shown  is  that  in  use  sometimes  where  a  connection  is  made  between 
the  room  of  a  breast  and  the  gangway  by  one  schute  only,  instead  of  by  two.  The 
pitch  of  the  bottom  state  is  at  an  angle  of  45°.  You  will  observe  that  the  schute 
starts  from  a  spacious  platform  a  little  above  the  level  of  the  gangway  wagon.  The 

The  position  of  a  monkey  gangway  or  counter  air-way  is  shown  in  section  in  Plate  XXIII. 
This  monkey  gangway  serves  the  purposes  of  a  return  air  course,  until  it  is  shut  up  by  the  crush.  After 
this  takes  place,  the  air  is  left  to  get  out  as  best  it  can  by  way  of  the  breasts,  and  by  the  upper  levels. 
When  coal  below  the  water  level  gangway  is  being  worked,  it  is  reached  by  means  of  a  slope  sunk 
down  the  incline ;  and  to  an  air-passage  driven  alongside  of  the  slope,  the  monkey  gangways  from  the 
east  and  west  portion  of  a  property  connect.  To  the  gangway,  cross  holes  connect  the  monkey,  which 
may  be  driven  over  the  main  gangway,  as  it  is  shown  in  Plate  XXIII.,  as  well  as  alongside  of 
it.  In  a  manner  the  monkey,  together  with  the  main  gangway,  answers  the  same  purpose  as  do  a 
pair  of  headways  in  an  English  mine.  The  variation  of  this  method,  when  used  to  take  out  coal  in  veins 
slightly  inclined,  consists  only  in  changing  the  direction  of  the  breasts,  which  are  occasionally  driven 
in  a  manner  diagonal  to  the  direction  of  the  level  gangways.  This  system  of  driving  excavations  in 
England  is  termed  cross-cut.  It  is  not  to  be  recommended  anywhere  for  any  purpose  whatever,  because 
planes  can  be  easily  arranged  to  run  coal  from  the  breasts,  if  driven  at  right  angles,  and  light  wagons 
may  be  used  for  this  purpose.  But  this  comes  under  the  head  of  transportation,  which  is  a  subject  of 
secondary  importance  when  compared  with  the  primitive  one  of  mining ;  so  we  cannot  compare  nor 
criticize  the  various  modes  of  arranging  the  breasts  to  suit  and  adapt  them  to  different  modes  of  trans- 
portation. Matters  like  these  are  left  to  the  sagacity  of  the  men  in  charge  of  the  mines,  and  they  vary 
them  to  suit  their  own  ideas. 

*  Plate  XXI.  gives  us  the  manner  of  connecting  together  the  main  gangway  and  breast-rooms,  and 
shows  us  the  manway  by  which  the  miner  climbs  up  to  his  work  at  the  breast.  The  loose  coal  is  repre- 
sented as  blocking  up  the  starter's  battery.  To  the  right,  the  top  of  the  bottom  bench  is  shown,  with 
a  portion  of  it  removed,  to  show  more  clearly  the  mode  of  placing  the  timber,  and  of  planking  up  the 
schute.  The  steps  over  which  the  starters  climb  to  the  battery,  with  a  portion  of  coal  lying  on  the 
platform,  are  also  shown.  The  place  for  the  starter  is  at  A.  On  the  left,  we  see  the  gangway  under  a 
section  of  the  upper  benches  of  coal.  The  upper  portion  shows  the  coal  pile  lying  above  the  battery, 
within  the  breast-room.  Schute  timbers  are  about  nine  inches  to  a  foot  through,  excepting  the  battery 
collar  and  centre  legs,  which  in  some  cases  of  heavy  inclination  are  often  eighteen  inches.  The  steps 
in  the  manway  are  set  into  the  sides  by  cutting  holes,  into  which  they  are  wedged  at  a  distance  of  three 
to  four  feet  apart.  The  cross-headings  are  driven  to  the  right  and  left  into  the  breast-rooms  on  each 
side  of  the  pillar,  and  the  distance  apart  of  the  headings  varies  from  twenty-four  to  thirty-six  feet.  A 
manway  door  is  placed  at  the  position  A,  and  it  is  used  to  intercept  the  air-current,  and  force  it  into 
the  most  advanced  works.  This  door  is  shown  on  a  large  scale  by  a  figure  in  Plate  XXIII.,  and  it  is 
made  to  open  outwards,  when  coals  running  down  the  manway  strike  it  sufficiently  hard  to  knock  it 
open  ;  it  closes  automatically.  A  platform  is  built  at  the  bottom  of  the  manway.  which  collects  the 
coal  cut  in  the  face  of  it,  and  in  the  headings  as  these  are  driven  over  into  the  breast-rooms. 


PLATE 


rr  and  Ijxt  ding 
Mat  form.  etc. 


PALATE: 


MINING    OF   COAL.  105 

collars  are  furnished  with  centre  legs,  to  which  the  schute  planks  are  nailed.  This 
partitions  the  schute  off  into  two  unequal  parts,  the  largest  one  being  reserved  for  the 
coal  that  comes  through  the  battery  shown  in  the  upper  part  of  the  schute  at  A.  The 
upper  set  of  timber  is  very  stout,  the  pieces  forming  it  not  being  less  than  fifteen  inches 
thick,  and  it  is  set  into  the  coal  at  each  end,  so  that  there  can  be  no  possibility  of  its 
slipping  out  of  place,  which  would  be  a  serious  mishap.  The  smaller  space  is  provided 
with  steps,  and  reserved  for  a  travelling  road,  so  that  a  "  starter"  may  go  to  the  batter)', 
and  break  the  large  blocks  of  coal,  as  they  wedge  in  between  the  battery  timbers. 
This  battery  collar  is  generally  provided  with  two  centre  legs  bolted  together  to  give 
them  greater  power  of  resistance,  and  enable  them  better  to  oppose  the  heavy  shocks 
and  severe  strains  to  which  they  are  subjected ;  and  any  one  can  form  a  tolerable  idea 
what  the  strains  on  the  battery  collars  will  amount  to  when  he  knows  that  a  breast  is 
driven  up  the  incline  to  a  distance  of  three  hundred  feet,  of  a  width  of  ten  to  twelve 
yards,  a  height  equal  to  the  thickness  of  the  seam,  which  is  sometimes  thirty  feet. 
The  battery,  as  it  is  now  shown,  is  blocked,  and  is  started  by  a  man  standing  near  A 
to  bar  or  to  blast  the  blocks  of  coal  wedged  between  the  legs.  Plate  XXII.*  shows 
the  starter  at  work.  When  the  coal  is  "  started,"  it  runs  down  the  schute  on  to 
the  platform,  and  if  the  blocks  of  coal  in  the  breast-room  are  less  than  the  space 
between  the  timbers,  they  crush  through  the  battery,  and  keep  the  schute  full, 
while  the  loader  rolls  the  coal  into  the  wagons  at  the  platform  by  barring  the  large 
pieces  and  shovelling  the  lesser  ones.  It  is  not  wise  to  empty  the  schute  entirely 
after  the  battery  becomes  blocked,  because  much  of  the  coal,  when  started,  woidd 
then  run  over  the  edge  of  the  platform  on  to  the  track,  and  cause  unnecessary  delay. 
By  this  time  you  have  an  idea  what  a  schute  is,  how  it  is  timbered,  and  how  it  is 
started ;  so  all  we  have  to  do  with  the  schute  at  present  is  to  recount — for  an 
example — your  personal  experiences  at  schute  starting. 

A  battery  is  to  a  schute  what  a  regulating  valve  is  to  a  supply  pipe.  The 
breast-room  or  excavation  is  as  it  were  the  reservoir. 

*  Plate  XXII.  gives  the  battery  collar  with  the  support  of  an  extra  leg  under  the  battery.  It 
shows  also  the  starter  at  his  work,  and  how  the  ends  of  the  collar  and  the  side  legs  are  set  into  recesses 
cut  into  the  coal  to  prevent  their  being  driven  out  of  their  positions  by  the  crashing  effects  of  the  coal 
passing  down  the  schute.  The  starter's  duty  is  obvious  ;  he  breaks  the  coal  at  the  battery  to  get  it  into 
the  schute  below. 

14 


106  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

The  schute  of  No.  8  breast  which  you  are  ordered  to  "  start"  by  your  friend, 
the  inside  boss,  is  what  the  miners  term  "  blocked  up"  at  the  battery,  in  the  manner 
shown  in  Plates  XXI.  and  XXII.  The  schute  below  the  battery  is  partially  empty. 
The  travelling  road  to  the  right,  shown  in  Plate  XXI.,  which  leads  from  the  plat- 
form on  the  right  of  the  gangway  to  the  battery  at  A,  gives  you  access  to  your  work, 
as  you  climb  with  your  tools  from  one  step  to  another  until  you  reach  it.  The 
battery  is  securely  blocked,  sure  enough,  and  there  is  no  danger  of  anything 
"starting"  until  you  drill  a  hole  in  the  lump  of  coal  which  forms  the  key  of  the 
blockade;  and  not  then,  until  you  fire  a  blast  in  the  hole  you  have  drilled.  But 
blockades  in  batteries  do  not  always  form  so  favorably.  In  some  cases,  the  mere 
touch  of  a  crowbar  will  "  start"  the  coal,  when  it  rushes  down  into  the  schute  with 
a  crash,  carrying  away  the  bar  out  of  the  starter's  hand ;  and  unfortunately,  some- 
times, a  starter  goes  down  along  with  the  coal.  It  is  an  extremely  dangerous 
operation  to  "  start"  the  coal  into  a  schute,  when  the  blockade  forms  a  few  feet 
above  the  battery  by  there  arching  itself.  Then,  a  piece  of  coal,  or  the  crowbar 
thrown  so  as  to  strike  some  particular  piece  composing  the  blockade,  may  move  the 
whole  mass  of  loose  coal  in  the  breast-room,  part  of  which  runs  into  the  schute,  the 
balance  being  retained  by  the  battery,  which  often  receives  its  weight  with  a  severe 
shock.  While  this  is  taking  place  with  the  loose  coal  rattling  about  his  ears,  the 
starter  depends  on  the  stability  of  the  battery  for  his  life. 

Before  we  detail  your  mode  of  drilling  the  hole  in  the  block  of  coal,  already 
referred  to,  we  shall  describe  a  set  of  tools  used  to  mine  coal  in  the  breasts  of  those 
highly  inclined  coal  beds  in  Pennsylvania. 

Fig.  1  is  the  drill,  as  it  is  commonly  made.  It  is  usually  made  about  six  feet 
in  length,  and  has  one  cutting  edge,  which  here  is  shown  to  be  a  straight  chisel  two 
and  a  half  inches  long ;  but  some  sharpeners  of  drills  file  its  edge  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  allow  the  corners  to  project  ahead  of  the  central  part.  The  chisel  is  then 
compounded  of  two  straight  parts,  forming  in  the  middle  where  they  join  an  obtuse 
angle. 

The  other  end  of  the  drill  is  set  up  to  form  a  butt.  In  this  a  groove  is  made 
to  slide  along  the  "  needle"  (Fig.  2),  while  it  is  used  to  ram  back  the  tamping. 

Fig.  2  shows  the  extremities  of  the  needle.     The  needle  is  made  in  some  cases  of 


MINING    OF    COAL. 


107 


good  tough  iron,  three-fourths  of  an  inch  at  the  eye,  and  it  tapers  evenly  down  to 
a  point,  at  a  length  of  four  to  six  feet. 

Fig.  l. 


Fig.  2. 


To  clean  out  the  hole,  and  prevent  it  from  becoming  clogged  during  the  pro- 
cess of  drilling,  a  scraper  (Fig.  3)  is  used.  This  is  made  of  one  half-inch  round 
iron,  and  it  is  generally  about  six  feet  in  length. 

Fig.  3. 


Fi2.  4. 


When  a  hole  is  drilled  in  coal  to  any  required  depth,  after  it  is  carefully  cleaned 
out,  the  charge  of  powder,  made  up  into  a  cartridge,  with  the  point  of  the  needle 


108  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

sticking  in  it,  is  inserted  in  the  manner  shown  in  Fig.  4.  Then  the  tamping  is 
rammed  tightly  into  the  hole  to  fill  it  up  to  its  mouth.  After  the  needle  is  carefully 
drawn,  a  tapering  hole,  extending  from  the  mouth  of  the  drill  hole  to  the  charge  of 
powder,  is  left  through  the  tamping.  The  hole  is  then  ready  to  receive  the  squib 
and  be  fired. 

The  squib  (Fig.  5)  is  made  of  a  piece  of  straw  or  a  cylinder  of  paper  filled  with 
powder,  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  about  four  inches  long.     One  end 

Fig.  5.  Fig.  6. 


of  the  squib  is  made  to  form  the  match,  which  is  made  to  burn  sufficiently  slow  to 
allow  the  one  who  lights  it  to  retreat  to  a  place  of  safety.  Before  inserting  the 
squib,  the  sealed  end  is  nipped  off.  It  is  secured  as  loosely  in  the  hole  as  possible, 
so  as  not  to  prevent  it  from  flying  through  the  hole,  on  the  principle  of  a  rocket,  to 
ignite  the  charge. 

When  a  drill  hole  cuts  a  feeder  of  water,  a  piece  of  gas-pipe  one-fourth  to  three- 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  is  used,  instead  of  a  needle.  In  this  case,  the  cart- 
ridge is  made  water-proof;  and  the  pipe,  termed  a  "  blasting  barrel,"  is  tied  into  one 
end  of  it,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  water-tight  joint.  It  is  then  placed  in  the 
hole,  and  the  tamping  is  rammed  back  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  needle  were 
used.  A  piece  of  small  wire,  kept  within  the  "  blasting  barrel,"  until  the  tamping 
process  is  completed,  is  then  drawn  out.  This  disposes  the  grains  of  powder  in  a 
favorable  position  to  be  fired  when  the  rocket  squib  flies  through  the  barrel.  Without 
the  use  of  this  wire,  the  grains  of  powder  become  jammed  in  the  barrel  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  prevent  the  fire  of  the  squib  from  igniting  promptly  the  powder  of  the 
charge,  which  sometimes  results  in  serious  mischief  by  causing  the  charge  to  hang  fire, 
and  to  explode  at  the  moment  the  miner  returns  to  examine  into  the  cause  of  the  delay. 


MINING   OF   COAL.  109 

In  Fig.  6  is  shown  the  style  of  pick  mostly  in  use  in  the  anthracite  coal 
region.  They  are  made  of  weights  to  vary  between  two  and  seven  pounds,  the  lighter 
picks  being  used  to  dress  the  sides  of  the  manways,  to  undermine,  etc.,  while  the 
heavy  picks  are  used  to  raise  and  pry  up  the  large  blocks  of  coal  loose'ned  by  blasts, 
and  to  break  them  into  pieces  of  a  size  convenient  to  be  handled. 

With  a  steel  sledge  of  six  to  eight  pounds  in  weight,  and  a  steel  wedge  about 
six  to  eight  inches  in  length,  made  to  correspond  to  Figures  7  and  8,  the  miner 
has  a  complete  set  of  coal-cutting  tools  for  the  hard  anthracites. 


Fig.  7.  Fi 


O" 


Returning  to  the  battery,  shown  in  Plates  XXI.  and  XXII.,  you  drill  a  hole  in 
the  lump  of  coal  blocking  it  up.  You  use  the  drill  described  in  Fig.  1. 

The  usual  method  adopted  in  drilling  is  to  fix  on  a  point  to  commence  the  hole, 
and  decide  on  the  line  of  its  direction,  aiming  at  another  point  as  its  termination. 
Let  the  object  in  view  be  to  place  the  charge  of  powder  as  near  the  centre  of  the 
lump  as  possible,  so  that  the  force  of  the  explosion  will  radiate  from  this  point,  and 
break  it  into  several  pieces.  Therefore,  you  survey  the  lump  of  coal,  using  your  eye 
to  measure  its  angles  and  dimensions,  and  make  your  decision  from  the  results. 
Your  success  will  depend  very  much  on  the  accuracy  of  the  survey;  so  you  are 
careful  in  these  simple  preliminaries.  The  point  is  selected  and  the  hole  is  marked 
out  with  the  point  of  a  pick.  Then  you  stand  on  the  step  of  the  travelling  road, 
and  balancing  the  drill,  take  aim  at  the  hole,  and  strike  a  hard  blow.  You  turn  the  drill 
a  little,  and  aim  at  the  same  point.  Both  blows  take  effect  in  different  places.  By- 
continuing  the  operations  of  striking  the  hole  and  turning  the  drill,  you  strike  the 
chisel  on  a  series  of  fresh  points.  You  continue  this  until  the  hole  is  advanced  to  a 
depth  of  six  inches ;  and  if  your  blows  have  been  given  accurately,  the  hole  is 
tolerably  round  and  straight.  Then  you  take  the  butt  end  of  the  drill  in  your  hand, 
and  allowing  the  chisel  end  to  slide  in  the  hole,  you  change  your  position  to  suit 


110  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

your  balance,  and  work  the  drill  by  short,  quick  strokes,  turning  the  drill  a  little  at 
each  blow,  until  the  hole  is  so  far  advanced  as  to  allow  a  longer  stroke  to  be  given 
with  a  correspondingly  greater  effect.  With  practice,  you  find  that  the  great  secret 
in  drilling  consists  in  being  able  to  turn  the  drill  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep  "  cor- 
ners" and  "flats"  from  forming  in  the  hole,  and  to  acquire  the  skill  of  punching 
them  off  when  they  do  happen  to  form,  in  spite  of  your  care.  If  you  do  not  pay 
attention  to  these  very  small  details,  you  expend  much  of  your  strength  and  your 
time  to  no  purpose  whenever  you  strike  ahead  of  a  back  corner.  Assuming  that 
you  have  the  hole  drilled  into  the  point  aimed  for,  you  next  take  into  consideration 
the  succeeding  operation,  which  is  that  of  charging  your  hole  in  the  manner  shown 
by  Fig.  4. 

Assuming  that  your  hole  has  been  carefully  tamped,  and  the  squib  properly 
inserted  at  the  mouth  of  the  needle  hole,  you  put  your  tools  in  a  place  of  safety, 
touch  the  match  of  the  squib,  and  retire  yourself  to  such  a  place — the  gangway,  for 
instance — and  bawl  out  "  fire  V  The  result  is  an  explosion  ;  then  a  rush  of  coal 
down  the  schute,  some  portion  of  it  in  this  particular  instance  tumbling  over  the 
platform  on  to  the  railroad  track  in  spite  of  the  planks  laid  temporarily  behind  the 
legs  of  the  gangway  to  prevent  it.  However,  the  schute  is  started,  and  the  loader 
comes  along  with  his  wagon  the  succeeding  trip. 

Now  a  word  of  the  loader  and  the  driver  and.  the  boss  loader  while  the  smoke 
of  the  blast  is  clearing  away,  and  the  coal  in  the  breast  and  schute  is  settling. 

At  intervals,  in  driving  a  gangway,  the  width  is  increased  sufficiently  to  double 
the  track  and  make  sidings.  The  length  of  these  sidings  is  from  one  to  two 
hundred  feet.  This  allows  standing  space  for  a  trip  of  cars.  To  work  and  load  the 
wagons,  a  gang  of  loaders,  headed  by  a  loader  boss,  is  employed.  If  the  distance 
is  too  great  for  the  loaders  to  work  the  wagons  from  the  schutes  and  platforms  to 
the  coupling-up  siding,  a  bumping  mule  is  furnished.  This  bumping  mule  is 
trained  to  bring  out  the  innermost  wagon  and  join  it  up  against  the  next  in  advance, 
because,  on  account  of  the  schutes  being  arranged  at  equal  distances  from  each  other, 
the  wagons  are  kept  at  least  this  distance  apart  from  each  other  while  they  are  being 
loaded.  At  times  there  is  barely  room  for  the  animal  to  pass  the  cars  in  advance 
of  him,  and  it  is  often  serious,  and  sometimes  fatal,  for  both  driver  and  mule  should 


MINING   OF   COAL.  Ill 

the  gears  become  entangled  among  the  timbers  or  the  framework  of  the  wagon 
while  the  mule  is  in  the  act  of  siding  past  on  the  gutter  side  of  the  gangway. 

A  certain  number  of  wagons  drawn  into  the  siding  constitute  the  trip  to  be 
taken  out  to  the  foot  of  the  hoisting  slope,  and  in  cases  of  water  level  drifts  being 
above  the  dumping  schute  of  the  breaker,  to  the  surface.  The  number  of  cars  to 
be  coupled  together  depends  on  the  condition  of  the  road,  and  the  amount  of  its 
grade.  You  often  see  a  team  of  four  mules  bring  out  a  train  of  cars  bearing  forty 
tons  of  coal. 

When  the  loaded  wagons  are  bumped  and  drawn  into  the  siding,  the  empty 
ones  are  distributed  among  the  breasts  which  have  coal  ready,  and  their  schutes  are 
"  started,"  or  full  of  broken  coal.  A  glance  at  Plate  XXII.  shows  that  the  plat- 
form on  which  the  loader  stands  is  higher  than  a  drift  wagon ;  therefore  the  coal  is 
very  easily  shovelled  into  it.  When  the  inclination  of  a  coal  seam  is  lower  than 
20°,  the  platform  is  not  so  high,  and  the  coal  must  be  broken  into  pieces  sufficiently 
small  to  be  handled  and  thrown  into  the  wagons.  This  is  hard  work  on  the  men's 
hands,  and  the  sharp  edges  of  the  coal  cut  terrible  gashes,  if  they  happen  to  be 
handled  carelessly.  While  being  broken,  splinters  of  coal  fly  and  cut  any  unpro- 
tected portion  of  the  body  they  strike.  A  man  may  only  be  aware  of  his  wounds  when 
the  blood  moistens  the  handle  of  the  pick  or  instrument  he  is  working  with,  and 
renders  them  disagreeably  slippery.  So  much  for  the  loader  when  he  is  called — or 
rather  sent  by  the  boss  loader  who  is  a  kind  of  "  despatcher" — to  the  schute  of  No. 
8  breast. 

Of  course,  the  road  must  be  cleared  to  begin  with,  and  on  account  of  this  little 
extra  labor  our  loader  has  his  little  "  growl."  The  rest  of  the  loaders  have  their 
laugh  and  their  joke. 

"  Hurry  up,  now,  Mickey,  and  get  that  stuff  out  of  the  way,"  says  one  of  the 
crowd,  waiting. 

"  You  can  go  to  thunder,  Pat,"  retorts  Mickey. 

"  Come  on,  now,"  adds  the  boss  loader,  lending  Mickey  a  hand  to  expedite  the 
work,  "  let  's  get  the  thrip  in  as  schoon  as  we  can." 

"  Get  the  thrip  in  yerself,"  says  Mickey,  working  like  a  good  fellow  to  stop  the 
gabbling  and  jeering  of  his  comrades. 


112  THE    AKT    OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

The  road  is  cleared  sufficiently  for  the  wagons  to  pass  in  by  putting  some  of  the 
coal  into  the  first  empty  wagon ;  but  more  is  left  in  the  middle  of  the  track,  and  on 
the  gutter  side  of  the  gangway,  where  there  is  more  room.  There  it  remains,  to  cut 
the  feet  of  the  bumping  mule  until  it  is  better  cleaned  during  the  night.  The  trip 
passes  in  and  the  wagons  go  to  their  respective  schutes,  and  are  duly  loaded,  a  little 
competition  taking  place  during  the  operation,  and  a  bandy  of  words  at  the  end  of  it. 

"  Is  not  that  wagon  loaded  yet  ?"  asks  the  first  man  finished,  of  the  next  man 
to  him,  putting  the  last  lumps  of  coal  on  the  top  of  his  wagon. 

"  Be  me  soul,  now,  it's  not  loaded  you  are  yerself,  so  stop  yer  everlasting 
jawing,"  is  the  retort.  And  so  on,  during  the  day,  the  dreary  work  in  the  mine 
is  enlivened  by  these  and  kindred  exchanges  of  compliments  where  the  best  of 
feeling  in  most  cases  prevails. 

The  first  day  is  passed  over,  and  to  keep  No.  8  schute  started  required  the  aid 
of  seven  blasts,  the  length  of  the  holes  varying  from  fifteen  to  thirty-six  inches. 

Although  your  friend,  the  inside  boss,  has  not  interfered  with  you,  he  is  satisfied 
with  your  day's  work  ;  and  as  the  breast-room  is  still  blocked  at  the  face,  you  are 
required  to  continue  at  the  starting  the  succeeding  day.  But  the  third  day  you  are 
allowed  to  proceed  with  your  work  in  the  breast.  In  the  mean  time  a  "  butty"  has 
been  found,  with  whom  you  are  to  form  a  partnership  at  the  work  of  No.  8  breast. 


PLATBXXm 


DRIVING    A    BREAST.  113 


CHAPTER   XX. 

DRIVING  A  BREAST— COST  OF  COAL— MANWAY  AND  HEADING— BLOWING  DOWN  TOP  COAL. 

As  you  will  now  proceed  to  the  face  of  the  breast  and  begin  to  work  the  coal 
there  in  the  manner  you  know  best,  your  object  will  be  to  advance  the  breast  as 
rapidly  as  possible  up  the  incline  of  the  coal  seam. 

The  man  way  through  the  innermost  pillar  forms  the  travelling  road  for  Xo.  8 
breast.  You  mount  the  platform,  and  about  nine  feet  from  it,  come  to  an  air  door 
(shown  in  detail  in  Plate  XXIII.*),  which  is  hinged  on  the  top  of  the  frame  and  made 

*  Plate  XXIII.  gives  us  a  view  of  a  mode  of  timbering  the  manways  in  the  breast-rooms,  and  of 
connecting  them  together  by  means  of  headings  driven  clear  through  the  pillars.  The  manways  con- 
necting to  the  breasts  start  off  through  the  stump  over  the  gangway,  and  they  are  headed  over  to  the 
right,  and  left  to  connect  with  the  breast-rooms  on  each  side.  At  the  bottom  of  the  breast-room  batter- 
ies are  formed  by  placing  one  of  the  ends  of  two  stout  stringers  on  the  battery  collar,  as  shown  at  A  ; 
while  the  other  ends  are  put  into  recesses  cut  in  the  bottom  slate.  Laggings  are  then  stretched  from 
one  to  the  other.  This  forms  a  space  underneath,  in  which  the  starter  finds  room  to  start  the  battery 
amidst  the  cloud  of  dust  raised  by  the  coal  as  it  crushes  and  grinds  through  the  battery.  The  road 
into  such  a  battery  is  the  one  already  referred  to.  The  manway  within  the  breast-room  commences  at 
the  battery,  and  is  built  of  props  six  to  eight  inches  thick  and  of  planks  six  feet  long,  in  the  manner 
shown.  The  props  are  called  jugglars,  and  are  about  five  feet  in  length,  and  are  set  about  as  many  feet 
apart.  The  planking  laid  and  spiked  on  them  from  the  bottom  rock  up  to  the  point  at  which  they  lean 
against  the  rib  is  formed  of  two-inch  plank.  As  the  breast  advances  up  the  incline,  the  rooms  fill  up 
and  cover  those  manways  ;  and  thus  the  miner  is  provided  with  a  space  through  which  he  crawls  to 
his  work,  and  by  which  he  retreats  to  a  place  of  safety  in  times  of  threatening  danger.  The  breast- 
room  to  the  left  is  shown  to  be  full  of  coal,  exactly  in  the  manner  that  breasts  are  worked  by  the  miner. 
The  bottom  bench  of  the  breast  is  shown  to  be  advanced,  and  the  top  coal  is  over-hanging,  ready  to  fall, 
or  to  be  blasted  down.  A  section  is  shown  to  the  left,  which  shows  the  place  of  the  monkey  gangway, 
as  it  is  sometimes  driven  over  the  top  of  the  main  gangway,  instead  of  at  the  bottom  of  it.  At  A,  the 
place  of  the  starter  is  shown.  The  breast-room  to  the  right  shows  the  inside  manway,  and  the  pillar 
dividing  the  breast-rooms  is  shown  to  be  pierced  by  a  heading  driven  near  to  the  breast  of  each  exca- 
vation. The  pillar  on  the  lower  part  of  the  excavation  shows  how  it  may  be  squared,  to  avoid  leaving 
the  projections  shown  in  that  part  of  the  breast  advanced  further  than  the  bottom  bench,  up  to  which 
the  manways  are  built  in  working  order.  The  schutes  at  the  gangway  are  provided  with  platforms, 
which  allow  the  coal  to  run  into  the  wagons  of  the  gangway.  From  this  sketch,  an  idea  can  be  formed 
concerning  the  quantity  of  coal  left  after  the  mines  have  been  worked  over  the  first  time. 
15 


114  THE    AKT    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

to  open  outward  to  allow  the  coal  cut  in  the  face  of  the  manway  to  open  the  door 
by  its  impulse,  after  running  down  the  manway.  The  door  is  made  to  close  auto- 
matically by  its  gravity.  In  the  manway  you  find  steps  about  three  feet  apart. 
These  are  of  tough  saplings,  about  two  to  four  inches  through,  and  well  secured  in 
holes  dug  in  the  sides.  You  experience  no  trouble  in  climbing  the  manway,  whose 
height  and  width  are  two  by  three  feet.  "  Cross  headings"  start  off  at  right  angles 
about  thirty  feet  from  the  gangway,  and  are  driven,  one  to  the  right  into  No.  8 
breast,  and  another  to  the  left  into  No.  9,  in  the  manner  shown  more  in  detail  in 
Plate  XX.  You  crawl  through  the  outer  heading,  and  find  it  blocked  up  with  coal ; 
then  pass  on  up  the  manway  to  the  upper  heading,  which  is  open.  Through  this 
you  enter  into  the  breast.  The  heading  is  at  least  twenty  feet  from  the  face,  and  it 
is  driven  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  bottom  bench  at  a  distance  of  not  less  than 
four  feet  above  the  bottom  rock.  This  allows  an  open  passage  to  the  breast,  when 
there  is  a  considerable  amount  of  coal  in  the  breast-room.  But  within  the  "breast" 
fairly,  you  have  a  scene — a  coal  section — presented  to  you,  a  fair  section  of  the 
Mammoth  Vein  as  it  is  usually  seen  in  the  Mahanoy  and  Shenandoah  valleys.  The 
mass  of  loose  coal  lying  in  the  breast-room  over  which  you  crawl  is  very  consider- 
able ;  but  the  section  represented  by  the  breast  is  a  magnificent  one.  Beginning  at 
the  bottom  bench,  you  find  five  feet  six  inches  of  coal  glistening  like  jet,  having 
a  vitreous  fracture,  whose  shining  surfaces  almost  reflect  your  visage  in  a  dozen 
different  places  at  once.  Over  this  you  have  a  few  inches  of  black  slate,  then  a  foot 
of  hard  coal,  showing  a  genuine  cleavage.  Next  a  band  of  slate,  which  varies  from 
four  inches  to  one  foot  in  thickness.  Then  come  forty-eight  inches  of  coal,  con- 
taining carbon  to  the  amount  of  ninety-four  per  cent.  Above  this  are  three  inches 
of  slate,  and  then  follow  forty-five  inches  of  coal,  containing  a  couple  of  streaks  of 
bone  coal,  from  which  fact  this  coal  has  derived  the  name  of  the  "  bony  bench."  A 
slate  of  two  to  four  inches  separates  this  bench  from  the  one  above  it,  which  is 
thirty-four  inches,  and  contains  a  liberal  portion  of  the  sulphurets  of  iron.  The 
slate  which  follows  varies  from  a  few  inches  at  the  point  where  you  have  taken  the 
above  section,  to  several  feet  in  others,  is  termed  the  partition  slate,  and  it  separates 
the  last-named  bench  of  coal  from  the  top  bench  of  forty-two  inches,  which  latter 
is  not  of  so  solid  a  nature  as  the  rest  of  the  coal  seam.  This  is  the  magnificent 


PL  ATE  XXIV. 


CoaL in  tlie Mammoth 


platform, 
arid  waon.  i 


DRIVING    A    BREAST.  115 

Mammoth  Vein,  near  Ashland,  and  it  is  covered  with  slate,  a  few  feet  in  thickness 
in  some  localities,  while  at  others  the  hard  rock  forms  the  roof  of  the  coal.  The 
same  alternation  of  clay  slate  and  rock  occurs  as  often  under  the  seam  as  the  slate 
and  rock  do  above  it.  (See  Plate  XXIV.*) 

You  look  at  the  breast  and  find  it  to  be  in  width  thirty-three  feet.  Such  a 
seam  of  coal  should  yield  about  seventy  tons  to  the  lineal  yard.  Seventy  tons  for 
nine  dollars,  the  price  per  yard  of  breast — the  digging  of  this  amount  of  matter  only 
costs  thirteen  cents  per  ton !  A  loader  loads  off  a  high  platform  from  forty  to  sixty 
tons  of  coal  per  day,  and  this  adds  less  than  four  cents  more  to  the  cost  when  it  is 
in  the  drift  car.  It  is  the  dead  work,  or  preparatory  work,  the  timber,  railroad  iron, 
repairing,  and  outside  work,  which  form  the  great  items  of  cost  in  the  coal  fields  of 
Schuylkill ;  yet  the  complaint  of  miners'  high  wages  is  often  made  a  plea. 

While  you  have  been  drawing  the  section  given  above,  and  estimating  the  costs 
as  far  as  they  are  stated,  your  butty  has  commenced  to  drill  a  hole ;  and  by  doing 
so  has  taken  possession  of  the  soft  side  of  the  breast.  It  is  necessary  to  explain 
here  how  a  breast  has  a  soft  or  free  side,  and  a  hard  or  tight  one,  and  a  sketch  to 
show  the  disposition  of  the  cleavage  or  "  grain"  of  the  coal  wilfassist  us  to  do  so. 

To  the  right  of  Plate  XX.  is  a  figure  showing  a  breast  where  the  line  of 
cleavage  does  not  intersect  the  line  of  dip  at  right  angles ;  but  instead  at  an  angle 
of  about  70°.  Therefore,  if  the  breast  were  driven  up  to  the  face  of  the  cleavage, 
as  shown  at  A  B,  the  angle  that  would  then  be  formed  by  the  pillar  of  the  right 
side  of  the  breast  with  the  line  A  B  would  be  an  obtuse  angle  of  110°,  while  the 

*  Plate  XXIV.  shows  a  breast  out  of  which  all  the  coal  has  been  drawn.  It  presents  us  with  a 
tolerable  section  of  the  famous  Mammoth  Vein.  A  drift  car  is  under  the  schute.  A  brake  stick  is 
shown,  which  is  used  by  the  loader  to  govern  the  flow  of  the  coal  into  the  wagon.  A  heading  is  also 
shown  to  be  driven  into  the  breast-room,  out  of  an  adjoining  inanway.  It  is  not  often  a  breast-room  is 
drawn  empty  ;  but  when  this  is  done,  steps  must  be  cut  up  to  the  breast  on  which  the  miner  stands  to 
drill  his  holes.  When  such  breast-rooms  fill  up,  the  miner  stands  on  the  loose  coal,  and  only  allows  a 
certain  amount  of  coal  to  be  drawn  daily,  which  will  correspond  to  about  one-third  of  the  amount  mined. 
This  allows  him  a  good  footing  on  which  to  stand  and  perform  his  work  in  a  comfortable  manner. 

The  corner  of  the  pillar  at  the  battery  is  shown  to  lean  down  the  hill,  which  admits  of  a  view  of 
the  rib  of  the  breast-room,  which  is,  in  this  instance,  shown  as  being  cut  squarely  up  from  the  bottom 
slate.  The  upper  layer  is  the  slate  roof  of  the  coal  vein.  The  floor  is  shown  partly  in  section  on  the 
right  of  the  plate.  The  section  in  the  breast  is  shown  in  a  succession  of  steps  and  projections. 


116  THE   ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

line  along  the  other  pillar,  united  to  the  same  line  A  B,  would  form  the  acute  angle 
of  70°.  To  keep  the  breast  advancing  as  nearly  as  possible  in  this  line,  so  that 
on  squaring  up  the  corners  with  each  cut  taken  off,  the  breast  will  be  parallel  with 
the  cleavage,  is  certainly  the  most  economical  way  of  working  off  the  cuts ;  and  the 
saving  is  effected,  both  in  powder  and  time,  both  in  themselves  representatives  of 
ready  money  to  the  working  miner.  If,  instead,  the  line  along  the  breast  be  from 
C  to  B,  the  piece  of  coal  forming  the  triangle  C  A  B  is  in  a  very  tight  place,  and  a 
miner  working  his  place,  thus  taking  his  cuts  off  so  as  to  keep  his  breast  advancing 
parallel  with  the  line  C  B,  will  tell  you  that  he  has  a  tight  breast. 

Now,  supposing  that  two  men  working  together  at  a  breast  agreed  to  cut  out 
the  coal  delineated  by  the  triangle  C  A  B,  to  bring  up  the  breast  parallel  with  the 
cleavage,  then  would  the  breast  be  ready  for  the  reception  of  a  drill  hole  from  G  to 
H,  the  result  of  a  blast  fired  in  such  hole  would  approximate  the  dotted  line  B  H  K. 

If  the  coal  were  as  strong  as  the  most  compact  of  the  anthracites,  and  the  hole 
drilled  in  the  position  indicated  were  about  three  inches  in  diameter  and  nine  feet 
in  length,  a  charge  of  well-packed  powder,  equal  to  four  feet  in  length,  would  almost 
sweep  out  a  cut  of  a  couple  of  yards.  The  rib  at  B  would  be  so  much  shattered  as 
only  to  require  the  pick  and  wedge  of  the  skilful  miner  to  dress  it  up  to  the  cleavage 
face  at  L. 

On  the  other  side,  which  is  the  hardest,  a  couple  of  well-directed  blasts  would 
dress  up  the  corner  from  A  to  D. 

To  work  breasts  systematically  thus,  two  sizes  of  drills  are  necessary ;  the  larger 
size  to  be  used  in  the  middle  of  the  breast,  the  smaller  in  the  ribs.  This  principle 
of  working  coal  is  adhered  to  in  mines  worked  in  the  bituminous  coals ;  and,  were  it 
not,  the  coal  would  become  so  "  woody"  as  to  retard  the  work  of  the  miner  fifty  per 
cent.  Illustrate  it  in  the  following  manner :  Take  a  piece  of  white  pine  weather- 
board having  a  straight  grain.  Draw  two  lines  parallel  to  each  other,  from  one  side 
to  the  other.  Let  those  lines  be  at  an  angle  of  70°  to  the  grain  of  the  wood.  Now 
take  your  knife  and  cut  out  the  material  between  those  lines.  You  will  find  that 
side  forming  the  obtnse  angle  with  the  grain  to  work  much  easier  than  the  other. 
When  the  two  corners  are  cut  so  as  to  be  advanced  to  the  same  line  in  the  grain,  the 
middle  will  be  the  more  readily  split  off.  The  same  practice  may  be  carried  out  in 


DRIVING    A    BREAST.  117 

cutting  the  coal  off  a  breast.  If  the  coal  is  not  worked  according  to  the  principles 
shown,  you  will  see  no  grain  ;  it  will  show  you  its  vitreous  fracture  instead,  and  the 
powder  you  will  require  will  blow  it  into  too  many  splinters  to  form  the  best  coal. 
You  will  tell  us,  too,  that  the  coal  of  your  breast  is  hard,  and  possesses  no  grain, 
which  is  in  most  cases  sheer  nonsense,  because  coal,  except  it  be  twisted  and  dis- 
torted as  it  is  near  faults,  always  has  a  well-defined  cleavage. 

But  you  work  on  your  breast  in  the  best  way  you  can,  advancing  well  in  the 
bottom  bench  to  undermine  the  top  coal.  In  the  plates  referred  to  so  far,  we  have 
shown  the  operations  to  be  progressing  in  the  bottom  bench.  The  Plate  XXIII. 
shows  a  breast  to  the  left  with  the  bottom  bench  removed  for  a  considerable  distance 
in  advance.  The  balance  of  the  coal  is  said  to  be  undermined,  and  it  is  termed  "  top 
coal."  Therefore,  the  next  operation  is  to  blast  down  this  remaining  portion  of  the 
seam,  which  is  by  far  the  most  important  in  regard  to  its  great  production  of  coal. 

The  blasts  in  most  cases  are  prepared  by  drilling  holes  from  the  undermost  sides 
of  the  benches ;  but  instead  of  being  drilled  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  inclination 
of  the  seam,  they  are  directed  a  little  more  to  the  dip.  Of  course,  we  are  speaking 
of  veins  having  a  considerable  amount  of  dip. 

In  veins  having  a  low  rate  of  dip,  holes  may  be  drilled  from  the  face  of  the 
benches  nearly  parallel  to  the  dip  of  the  coal  vein.  In  any  case,  miners  contrive  to 
reach  the  holes  they  drill  in  the  top  by  allowing  the  loose  coal  to  heap  up  under  the 
points  in  the  coal  to  be  drilled.  Otherwise,  they  would  build  scaffolds  or  stand  on 
the  steps  of  ladders  to  drill  their  holes,  which  is  both  dangerous  and  inconvenient. 

In  the  event  of  the  coal  being  very  hard,  it  is  well  to  blast  off  or  pick  off  all 
the  projections  of  the  undermost  benches.  In  some  cases  the  top  coal  does  not 
require  any  blasting ;  it  falls  freely  as  the  bottom  bench  is  removed. 

When  the  top  coal  is  blasted  down  and  the  breasts  well  blocked  up  and  squared 
up,  you  commence  to  work  forward  the  manway  through  the  inside  pillar,  and  finish 
by  making  the  heading  connections  near  the  breast  of  coal.  The  current  of  air  cir- 
culates among  the  breasts,  as  shown  by  the  arrows  in  a  figure  of  Plate  XX.  The 
new  headways  are  driven  from  the  breast  toward  the  manway,  if  it  is  possible  to 
enter  the  breast-rooms  by  any  of  the  back  headings.  Otherwise,  admission  may  be 
had  to  the  breast  by  cutting  the  outside  heading  D  through  to  the  breast  from  the 


118  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

manway  E.  But  usually  by  a  little  work,  a  hole  may  be  made  through  the  loose 
coal  blocking  a  lower  heading.  In  the  mean  time  the  loaders  are  busy  drawing  the 
coal  out  of  the  breast,  and  while  you  are  working  at  this  dead  work  for  which  there 
is  no  pay,  you  hear  the  roar  of  the  coal  as  it  tumbles  down  to  the  battery.  Some- 
times there  is  the  report  of  a  blast  at  the  "  starter's"  battery,  which  is  followed  by  the 
thundering  of  an  avalanche.  But  the  coal  is  never  still  while  the  loader  is  at  work 
loading  at  the  rate  of  sixty  to  one  hundred  tons  per  day,  until  the  coal  in  the  breast- 
room  has  moved  so  far  as  to  allow  of  the  resumption  of  work  at  the  breast.  This 
may  require  the  work  of  a  week  of  steady  loading,  and  in  the  mean  time  you 
have  your  manway  and  heading  connections  made  close  up  to  the  breast. 

The  headings  are  the  miner's  store-rooms,  and  each  new  heading  finished  near 
the  face  receives  his  stock  of  tools  and  powder,  his  oil,  and  his  dinner-cans.  When 
he  sets  fire  to  the  match  that  explodes  his  blast,  he  finds  a  safe  place  of  retreat  in 
the  nearest  heading.  When  the  top  coal  threatens  to  fall,  it  is  his  harbor  of  refuge. 

A  manway  may  be  three  feet  wide  by  two  feet  in  height,  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
choice  whether  the  miner  carries  on  the  face  of  his  manway  or  heading  by  blasting 
in  the  "  solid,"  or  whether  he  assists  his  blast  by  mining  or  "  holing,"  a  process 
resorted  to  generally  in  all  narrow  work  by  all  good  miners.  Usually  a  thin  piece 
of  soft  slaty  matter  lies  on  the  top  of  the  bottom  bench,  which  is  taken  advantage 
of  by  the  pickman,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  light  drill  and  pick,  a  distance  of  three 
feet  may  be  holed,  by  first  picking  out  the  soft  layer,  and  then  by  blocking  or  chop- 
ping down  a  portion  of  the  coal  in  front,  to  allow  the  play  of  the  arms  when  the 
distance  of  the  holing  becomes  too  great  to  work  the  pick  freely.  Miners  accustomed 
to  a  skilful  use  of  the  light  "  mining  pick"  have  a  great  advantage  over  those  who 
depend  altogether  on  the  operations  of  their  blasts  in  such  narrow  work. 

After  a  "  cut"  has  been  holed,  a  drill-hole  is  made  near  the  top  of  the  manway ; 
and  after  this  has  been  properly  charged  with  powder  and  exploded,  the  effect  will 
be  or  should  be  to  square  up  the  face  to  the  point  to  which  the  holing  has  been  carried. 
As  the  inclination  is  such  as  to  allow  the  coal  to  fall  freely  down  the  manway, 
nothing  remains  to  be  done  but  to  start  off  the  loose  pieces  hanging  on  the  face,  and 
dress  up  the  corners  ready  for  a  succeeding  cut.  In  case  of  blasting  in  the  solid,  the 


DRIVING    A   BREAST.  119 

coal  is  only  shattered,  and  in  most  cases  more  pick  work  is  required  to  chop  off  the 
coal  than  would  have  undermined  a  good  cut  twice  over. 

For  the  ventilation  of  the  manway  while  the  miner  is  working  in  its  face,  the 
rushing  of  the  coal  down  the  steep  incline  is  depended  on  for  a  renewal  of  air  to 
displace  the  foul  air  exuding  from  the  coal  and  vitiated  by  the  burning  of  the  miner's 
lamp ;  because,  until  a  connection  is  made  by  the  heading  and  manway,  no  constant 
current  of  air  can  reach  the  miner.  It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  consequence  to  himself 
that  this  passage  be  completed  as  soon  as  possible  after  it  has  been  commenced. 

The  distance  between  the  headings  may  be  anything  between  eight  and  twelve 
yards. 

As  we  have  detailed  your  mode  of  advancing  with  No.  8  breast,  whose  ra  an  ways 
are  driven  longitudinally  through  the  centre  of  the  pillars,  you  will  please  return  to 
the  surface  and  come  in  with  the  current  of  air  which  finds  its  way  inside  to  ventilate 
the  works. 


120  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

VENTILATION— DRAINAGE  OF  WATER  LEVEL— GANGWAY  IN  BOTTOM  ROCK. 

THE  ventilation  of  a  mine  worked  under  the  conditions,  and  according  to  the 
method  shown,  is  on  a  very  simple  scale  indeed.  The  force  of  the  current  is  obtained 
from  the  difference  between  the  level  of  the  ventilating  funnel  built  on  the  top  of 
the  air-way,  and  the  level  of  the  mouth  of  the  main  drift  and  water  level,  which  in 
this  case  is  over  two  hundred  feet.  It  is  only  a  repetition  to  tell  you  on  what  prin- 
ciples natural  currents  of  air  depend  for  their  motion ;  but  we  shall  repeat  the  old 
tale. 

To  begin,  we  shall  state  that  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  at  the  top  of  the 
air-way  is  a  certain  thing  at  a  stated  time.  Then  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  at 
the  drift's  mouth  is  this  certain  thing,  plus  the  weight  of  a  column  of  air  two  hun- 
dred feet  in  height.  This  has  reference  to  the  weight  of  the  external  air.  Now,  as 
equal  volumes  of  air  having  equal  temperatures  at  equal  heights  possess  like  weights, 
we  have  the  air  in  the  mine,  and  at  the  surface,  exactly  of  the  same  weight,  at  the 
same  levels  at  all  times,  when  the  temperatures  are  equal,  excepting  (if  we  are  to  be 
very  nice  about  it)  when  an  excessive  quantity  of  vapor  or  gas  exists  in  either  of 
the  atmospheres.  In  the  relative  conditions  we  have  premised,  the  air  of  the  mine 
and  the  air  of  the  surface  would  balance  each  other,  and  remain  stationary,  and 
there  would  be  no  regular  ventilating  current,  and  no  currents  would  move  except 
those  driven  backwards  and  forwards  by  the  action  of  the  wagons  passing  along  the 
gangway.  This  miners  call  baffling.  Now,  we  know  that  when  there  is  a  difference 
of  temperature  between  the  air  outside  and  the  air  inside  of  a  mine,  and  the  con- 
nections between  the  two  points  (that  is,  the  top  of  the  air-way  and  the  mouth  of  the 
drift)  are  open,  there  will  be  a  preponderance  of  weight  inside  or  outside  as  the  case 
may  be,  which  will  put  in  motion  the  body  of  air  occupying  the  space  inside  between  the 
points  specified.  As  the  air  inside  remains  very  nearly  the  same  in  temperature,  winter 
and  summer,  the  changing  of  the  temperature  of  the  seasons  governs  the  current  of  air 


VENTILATION.  121 

in  the  mines  in  direction  and  in  intensity :  therefore,  in  winter,  the  air  is  condensed, 
and  possesses  greater  weight  outside  of  the  mine  by  the  ¥^th  part  to  each  degree 
in  difference  of  temperature.  Now,  the  increase  in  weight  of  two  hundred 
feet  of  air  having  a  difference  of  50°  in  temperature  is  very  easily  found  out,  when 
we  know  that  thirteen  cubic  feet  of  air  ordinarily  will  weigh  about  a  pound  avoir- 
dupois by  applying  rules  well  known  to  us  all  who  have  thoroughly  studied  our  lessons 
of  addition  and  subtraction.  If  we  are  not  mistaken,  with  such  a  difference  in 
temperature,  we  would  have  a  difference  in  pressure  of  about  one  and  a  half  pounds 
per  square  foot.  This  is  sufficient  to  put  a  current  of  air  in  motion  at  a  lively 
rate. 

Now,  as  we  have  no  text-books  which  treat  this  problem  accurately,  I  shall 
decline  going  into  the  mathematical  part  of  it  here,  as  all  mathematics  advanced  on 
the  subject  since  the  days  of  Dr.  Lardner  are  absurd,  and  it  would  bother  us  terribly 
to  demonstrate  the  matter  satisfactorily  in  a  work  like  this,  which  is  to  be  purely 
descriptive  and  practical. 

To  return  to  the  practical  part  of  our  subject,  you  will  follow  the  air  coursing 
through  the  mines  from  the  mouth  of  the  drift,  to  the  point  it  leaves  the  mine  at  the 
top  of  the  air-way,  and  gather  up  information  as  the  air  gathers  noxious  gases  and 
clouds  of  powder  smoke  in  passing  along.  The  head  boss  and  the  inside  boss 
will  assist  to  work  out  the  example  of  natural  ventilation. 

You  enter  the  drift  with  the  air-current,  and  at  a  short  distance  the  head  boss 
takes  the  lamp  off  his  hat  and  holds  it  out  into  the  air-current,  to  try  its  strength. 

"  Why,  Bill,  you  have  a  brisk  current  of  air  here  to-day ;  how  do  you  account 
for  it  ]" 

"  The  air  is  colder  outside  than  we  have  had  it  for  some  time,  and  the  colder  the 
air  is,  the  faster  it  travels,"  says  Bill,  thinking  this  is  an  end  of  the  subject ;  but 
it  is  only  a  beginning. 

Harry,  the  head  boss,  stops  and  halts  you.  "  Now,  here's  a  chance  for  you, 
young  fellow ;  let  us  know  all  about  this  matter  before  you  advance  a  step  farther. 

You  repeat  Bill's  answer,  and  tell  him  it  is  owing  to  the  cold  weather  outside. 

"  The  weather  be  blowed,"  says  Harry,  whose  love  of  pneumatics  will  never 
drive  him  crazy. 


122  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"  But  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,"  you  repeat :  "  and  if  you  must  have  the  princi- 
ples explained,  you  must  practise  a  little  patience,  so  sit  down  on  this  oil  chest 
and  listen  to  them." 

You  tell  your  companions  what  has  been  told  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter. 
Harry  criticizes  and  discusses  as  many  points  as  he  pleases ;  but  Bill  becomes  sullen 
and  silent,  evidently  not  disposed  to  encourage  such  unfamiliar  topics.  He  looks 
like  one  among  his  superiors  whom  he  does  not  wish  to  acknowledge  as  such.  You 
explain  how  it  is  that  the  cold  air  has  reversed  the  ventilating  current  by  becoming 
the  heaviest  outside. 

But  as  Harry  is  frank  in  his  remarks,  you  are  as  candid  in  yours.  You  take 
your  lamp  and  swing  it  in  the  current,  and  cannot  help  making  a  calculation.  By 
custom,  we  can  approximately  find  the  quantity  of  air  in  circulation,  by  keeping  a  lamp 
oscillating  a  few  seconds  in  the  direction  of  the  air-current.  Now,  in  passing  the  lamp 
iviih  the  current,  the  flame  must  be  kept  vertical,  and  the  space  through  which  the 
lamp  oscillates  measured  by  a  practised  eye  indicates  the  velocity  of  the  air  per  second. 
Now  by  practice  one  may  become  sufficiently  expert  to  catch  up  with  a  current  of 
air  moving  six  feet  per  second ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  measure  a  current  by  such  means 
moving  much  above  this  rate  of  speed.  Your  calculation  made  in  the  manner  indi- 
cated, you  say :  "  Gentlemen,  we  have  not  any  air  to  boast  of  here.  The  current 
moves  the  flame  over  to  an  angle  of  30°,  more  or  less ;  but  it  is  not  moving  with  a 
greater  velocity  than  twelve  inches  per  second.  Sixty  feet  per  minute  into  seventy- 
two,  the  area  of  this  gangway,  will  give  a  result  of  forty-three  hundred  and  twenty 
cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute.  This  does  not  amount  to  the  name  of  ventilation  in  a 
mine  whence  four  hundred  tons  are  excavated  daily. 

"  What  has   the  amount  of  coal  mined  to  do  with  air "?"   asks  Bill,  gruffly. 

"  Why  every  block  of  coal  you  break  from  the  face  of  a  working-place  liberates 
a  certain  amount  of  gas  of  some  sort.  It  is  not  often  pure  air  that  is  found  in  the 
pores  of  the  coal  strata,  and  the  crevices  of  a  mine,  I  can  tell  you !  Carbonic  acid, 
sulphurous  acid,  and  other  gaseous  mixtures,  as  well  as  the  explosive  gases,  of  which 
we  will  say  nothing  now,  are  found  in  inconvenient  abundance  in  such  mines  as 
these.  And  I  repeat  that  every  block  of  coal  you  dig  out  of  the  coal  seam,  and 
smash  up  into  pieces,  lets  out  a  portion  of  the  gas  it  contains,  be  that  gas  what  it 
will.  When  you  stop  mining  the  gas  is  stopped  from  forming." 


VENTILATION.  123 

"  That  reminds  me  of  a  circumstance  which  came  under  my  observation  once, 
and  may  be  accounts  for  what  has  always  been  a  mystery  to  me,"  says  Harry,  "  and 
as  we  have  an  abundance  of  time,  let  us  have  an  understanding  all  around.  I 
once  worked  at  a  fiery  colliery  where  the  air  was  no  better  than  it  should  be.  They 
tried  to  ventilate  it  by  an  old  fire-lamp  set  up  on  the  top  of  the  air-way ;  but  the 
air  would  reverse  in  spite  of  [here  Harry  uses  an  expletive].  Well,  somebody  was 
getting  half  roasted  every  day.  The  boss  was  Dutch,  and  when  he  engaged  men, 
would  caution  them  about  the  fire  damp :  '  You  musht  take  care  von  him  or  he  vill 
roasht  you,  he  ish  von  [Dutch  expletives  reflectively].'  This  is  all  the  effort  our 
friend  made  to  save  his  men.  He  thought  by  doing  this  that  he  had  bestowed  on 
them  an  immense  favor.  But  I  am  getting  away  from  the  main  part  of  my  theme. 
The  place  had  acquired  an  infamous  reputation.  '  The  slaughter-house'  one  would 
say,  another  '  an  active  volcano.'  There  was  a  strike  of  several  months'  duration* 
and  the  mine  filled  up  with  water ;  they  had  stopped  the  pumps.  After  matters 
were  settled,  the  mine  was  pumped  out,  and  from  that  day  to  this  not  a  particle  of 
gas  has  been  found  in  the  mine.  Now,  was  this  occasioned  by  a  cessation  of  mining 
operations  ?  or  had  the  water  by  its  pressure  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  force  the 
gas  into  the  coal,  and  wedge  it  up  ?  or,  if  not,  what  the  deuce  became  of  the  gas  V 

Harry  laughs  as  he  asks  the  question,  which  by  no  means  is  easily  answered, 
provided  one  does  not  suppose  it  to  be  anything  but  a  genuine  case. 

"  I  do  not  know,  Harry,"  you  say ;  "  but  a  little  of  both  of  your  suppositions 
might  have  had  something  to  do  with  it.  Did  no  change  take  place  after  the 
strike?" 

"Oh,  yes!  the  Dutchman  left  and  another  fellow  came  and  built  a  large 
furnace  at  the  bottom  of  the  air- way." 

"And  do  you  not  conclude  that  this  was  the  secret  of  the  business  T'  you  ask. 

"  I  do  no  such  thing,"  says  Harry ;  "  because  the  new  boss  said  there  was  no 
gas  in  the  coal,  and  ventilation  or  no  ventilation,  from  that  day  to  this  the  mine 
has  been  safe  from  explosive  gases." 

"  This  is  certainly  singular,  at  the  least ;  but  as  a  phenomenon  it  is  not  unac- 
countable in  such  mines  as  these  lying  on  so  steep  an  inclination  and  subjected  to 
so  many  changes.  You  will  find  a  large  portion  of  a  mine  containing  one  kind  of 


124  THE   ART    OF    MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

gas ;  for  instance,  the  carbonic  acid ;  another  portion  of  the  same  mine,  carburetted 
hydrogen.  It  might  so  happen  that  after  the  new  boss  came  and  built  a  larger  fire 
in  a  more  effective  position,  the  ventilation  would  be  so  much  improved  as  to 
carry  off  the  small  amount  of  gas  generated  which  had  given  trouble  on  account  of 
bad  ventilation,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  cause  any  one  but  a  scientific  expert  to 
detect  its  presence." 

"  A  scientific  expert  be ,"  interrupts  Harry ;  "  who  the  deuce  can  be  more 

expert  than  the  man  who  has  been  a  lifetime  in  coal  mines,  and  who  has  made  it 
the  business  of  his  life  to  find  out  the  real  nature  of  gases  and  air  V 

"  Why,  the  fellow  whom  you  have  just  presumed  to  know,  or  to  have  found 
out  all  about  the  gases  of  a  mine,  is  .the  scientific  expert  I  refer  to,"  you  tell  Harry. 

"  But  this  boss  was  none  of  your  bookworms,  and  he  was  the  best  man  I  have 
met  with  for  carrying  air." 

"  Oh,  then !"  you  say,  decisively,  "  this  accounts  for  the  disappearance  of  the 
gas.  The  fact  is,  there  was  so  little  gas  given  off  in  the  days  of  the  Dutch  boss,  that 
the  improvement  effected  in  the  ventilation  made  after  he  left,  kept  it  in  such  a  state 
of  dilution  that  its  presence  was  never  suspected.  A  number  of  people  will  tell  you 
that  there  is  no  gas  in  a  coal  mine  if  it  is  not  found  in  explosive  mixtures  and 
attested  by  the  fireman's  try  lamp.  And  in  the  particular  mine  in  question  it  is  • 
barely  possible  that  the  mine  advanced  into  an  area  that  yielded  carbonic  acid 
instead  of  carburetted  hydrogen.  And  carbonic  acid  is  a  gas  to  which  we  have  not 
paid  one-half  of  the  attention  it  is  entitled  to.  It  is  not  hunger  but  it  is  gas  that 
puts  the  white  into  the  countenances  of  the  men  working  here  at  your  colliery,"  you 
have  the  hardihood  to  add. 

"  The  deuce !"  roars  Harry.  "  Bill,  let  us  sponge  up  the  gutter  with  this  scien- 
tific rat.  He  is  sneering  at  our  ventilation.  Why,  look !  there  is  wind  enough  to 
blow  my  light  out.  To  think  that  the  rascal  charges  us  with  using  up  poor  devils 
of  miners  and  giving  them  their  pale  faces,  is  more  than  I  can  stand."  Harry  stares 
in  your  face  and  whistles  a  stanza  from  Yankee  Doodle.  After  a  pause  of  two  semi- 
breves,  he  asks  if  anything  more  is  to  be  added  to  the  subject. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  you  say;  "  if  you  will  give  me  the  honor  of  your  attention,  we  will 
pass  on  with  this  forty-three  hundred  and  twenty  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute,  and 


VENTILATION.  125 

see  what  it  is  doing  and  to  which  points  it  is  directed.  But  we  shall  pass  nothing 
we  see  worthy  of  criticism  without  doing  it  full  justice,  even  the  gutter  or  water  level 
in  which  you  propose  to  duck  me ;  it  would  be  much  better  for  the  horses'  feet,  and 
for  the  railroad  track  if  it  were  one  foot  deeper  than  it  is." 

"  You  pretend,  then,"  says  Harry,  mimicking  a  sneer,  "  that  you  do  not  take 
your  own  boots  into  consideration,  you  swab,  you !  You  don't  care  to  tramp  in  here 
amongst  the  mud  !  What  a  pity  it  is  for  you  !  Let  us  go,  Bill,  or  the  fellow  will 
detain  us  a  whole  day." 

You  plod  on  through  the  mud  until  you  come  to  No.  4  breast,  and  then  you 
stop,  and  cry  "  halt !" 

Harry  turns  sharply  around,  and  asks  "  why  the  halt  ?" 

"  Simply  this,  we  are  at  the  fourth  breast.  Those  breasts  we  have  passed  are 
all  empty ;  their  schutes  and  manways  and  headings  are  all  open,  as  are  the  man- 
ways  and  upper  headings  inside  of  us  connecting  to  the  air-way.  Now  at  the 
air-way  we  lose  quite  one-half  of  our  forty-three  hundred  and  twenty  cubic  feet  of 
air  per  minute." 

"  There  you  make  a  mistake,"  chuckles  Harry.  "  The  bottoms  of  the  manways 
have  doors  to  prevent  the  air  from  going  from  the  gangway,  and  those  shut  against 
the  wind." 

"  My  mistake  is  a  very  slight  one,"  you  say,  "  that  it  is  at  this  point,  instead 
of  the  other;  it  is  evident  where  the  best  part  of  the  air  is  lost.  But  this  will 
make  no  difference,  for  a  reason  I  shall  point  out  before  going  a  step  farther,  your 
leave  obtained  to  do  so." 

"  Oh,  go  the  whole  hog,  by  all  means ;  don't  spare  us  a  bit ;  let  us  hear  the 
worst  of  ourselves ;  we  have  lots  of  patience,"  says  Harry,  mockingly. 

"  Well,  then,  pay  close  attention.  The  upper  heading  through  that  pillar, 
dividing  the  air-way  from  the  breast-room  outside  of  it,  is  the  only  communicating 
passage  between  those  breasts  outside  of  the  air-way  and  the  air-way  itself.  The 
heading  is  three  feet  wide,  by  two  high.  This  forms  an  area  of  six  square  feet.  The 
velocity  of  the  air  through  the  heading  to  which  I  have  reference,  will  be  about  six 
feet  per  second ;  quite  a  brisk  current,  and  it  carries  twenty-one  hundred  and  sixty 
cubic  feet  per  minute.  If  this  passage  could  be  increased  to  half  the  size  of  the 
gangway,  assuming  that  all  its  connections  could  also  be  similarly  enlarged,  or  so 


126  THE    ART   OF    MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

that  they  made  together  a  connection  with  this  gangway  of  an  aggregate  area  of 
thirty-six  square  feet,  the  circulation  of  air  through  that  heading  would  be  twelve  to 
thirteen  thousand  cubic  feet  per  minute.  This  would  be  the  measure  for  the  quan- 
tity of  the  wasted  air.  Now,  if  the  conditions  of  the  air-passages  and  connections  were 
left  unchanged  inside  of  the  air-way,  the  ventilation  would  still  be  the  half  of  forty- 
three  hundred  and  twenty  cubic  feet  per  minute.  No  matter  how  large  the  air-ways 
and  their  connections  might  be,  presuming  them  to  be  in  the  aggregate  as  large  as 
this  gangway,  the  velocity  of  the  current  would  not  be  any  greater  through  the  small 
heading  opening  through  the  pillar  inside  of  the  air-way  than  it  would  be  through 
the  supposed  enlarged  area  through  the  pillar  outside  of  the  air-way.  Now  we  will 
suppose  the  heading  through  the  inside  pillar  of  the  air-way  to  be  enlarged  in  a 
similar  manner,  what  do  you  suppose  would  be  the  result,  provided  the  connecting 
passages  were  also  enlarged  V 

"  Why,"  chimes  Harry,  "  by  your  own  mode  of  showing,  we  might  expect  an 
increase  in  the  circulation  of  air  to  correspond  with  the  increase  of  the  area  of  the 
passages,  the  velocity  of  current  being  the  same.  But  would  not  the  greater  distance 
aft'ect  the  ventilation  of  the  inner  portion  of  the  mines  V 

"  Not  to  a  very  great  degree,  for  the  small  difference  of  a  few  hundred  yards. 
The  distance  affects  the  ventilating  current  inversely,  as  the  square  root  of  the  whole 
is  compared  with  the  square  root  of  a  part ;  but  the  areas  of  passages  affect  them  as 
are  their  respective  proportionate  areas  to  each  other." 

"  None  of  your  algebra  or  roots,  if  you  please ;  fair,  square  round  numbers  we 
will  listen  to  with  all  due  patience ;  another  hint  at  geometry,  and  we  pass  on," 
says  Harry,  shaking  his  head  and  pretending  an  air  of  grave  determination.  "  But, 
Bill,"  he  adds,  turning  to  that  worthy,  who  seems  to  take  no  interest  in  what  is 
passing,  "  suppose  we  stop  up  all  the  openings  of  these  breasts  outside  of  No.  7, 
what  will  our  friend  say  V 

"  That  you  would  not  be  acting  wisely  or  accomplish  that  which  you  desire,  if 
it  is  an  increase  of  air  to  the  inside  places.  The  air  passing  from  the  outside  breasts 
would  simply  cease,  and  the  air  in  the  inside  breasts  would  remain  the  same  as  it  is 
now,  because  the  current,  under  existing  circumstances,  would  not  exceed  six  feet' 
per  second  anywhere.  Therefore,  by  stopping  up  those  outer  breast-rooms  as  you 
propose  to  do,  you  would  effect  no  improvement !" 


VENTILATION.  127 

"  Supposing,  then,  that  if  we  made  the  air- way  of  only  the  size  of  one  of  the 
headings  feeding  it,  what  would  be  the  effect  generally1?" 

"  You  would  reduce  the  total  amount  of  air  to  one-half  of  what  it  is  now.  The 
velocity  of  air  in  the  air-way  being  but  six  feet  per  second,  would  be  supplied  by  the 
two  currents  coming  out  of  the  two  headings  at  the  rate  of  three  feet  per  second 
instead  of  at  six." 

"  In  this  case,  supposing  that  we  stopped  up  the  outside  heading,  what  would 
be  the  result?" 

"  The  whole  of  the  current  would  pass  inside  and  return  through  the  heading 
of  the  pillar  inside  of  the  air-way  at  the  rate  of  six  feet  per  second  instead  of  three 
feet  per  second,  as  just  now  supposed." 

"  Now,  I  have  got  it  through  my  numbskull  as  a  RULE  that  a  stated  difference 
in  temperature  between  the  inside  and  outside  of  a  mine,  together  with  a  difference 
in  the  levels  of  the  intake  air-ways  and  the  discharge  air-ways  will  give  a  certain 
velocity  to  the  air,  and  if  we  wish  a  large  quantity  of  air  to  ventilate  our  mines,  we 
must  have  a  passage  or  a  series  of  passages  having  areas  to  correspond  to  our  require- 
ments. But,  by  George,  how  do  we  find  out  what  are  those  requirements'?" 

"  To  find  out  this  important  matter,  we  will  pass  forward,  if  you  please,  and  try 
to  solve  the  problem  before  we  return  to  the  surface,  by  examining  the  source  of  the 
impure  gases." 

"  How  do  you  propose  we  shall  go  I" 

"  With  this  remaining  half  of  the  air-current." 

"What!  inside,  and  by  way  of  the  breasts  up  the  air- way?  What  a  punish- 
ment !" 

"  But  the  air-current  will  teach  us  a  valuable  lesson  if  we  follow  it  up ;  you 
will  see  what  a  fog  of  powder  smoke  it  takes  upon  its  weak  shoulders.  Besides,  No. 
8  breast  is  finished  and  should  be  measured  and  '  squared  up.' ' 

"  Well,  Bill,  then  we  must  go  and  measure  No.  8  and  give  those  fellows  a 
chance  to  go  arid  work  in  the  next  new  breast  to  be  '  turned  off'  the  gangway." 

Mr.  William  assents  as  if  he  were  doing  a  favor  instead  of  performing  a  duty  to 
his  employers.  The  measuring  of  the  distances  and  spaces  of  a  gangway,  a  schute, 
a  heading,  a  breast-room,  and  the  rest  of  the  mining  excavations,  is  usually  performed 
bv  two  of  the  "  bosses." 


128  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  miner  never  to  dispute  the  measurements  of  his  work 
by  them.  It  is  a  compliment  he  pretends  to  pay  to  their  honesty.  Now  he  knows 
right  well  that  advantage  is  taken  of  him  in  very  many  instances ;  but  for  reasons 
politic  he  closes  his  eyes,  or  his  mouth,  if  you  will,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  They 
are  not  always  the  men  who  do  the  best  work  who  get  the  best  measurements. 
There  is  always  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  some  bosses  to  show  their  partialities,  and 
the  men  who  dispute  with  them  in  little  matters,  however  just  they  may  be,  are  not 
the  men  who  receive  the  favors.  But  an  honest  miner  will  rather  dispute  concern- 
ing his  rights  than  be  the  recipient  of  a  favor  he  has  no  right  to  accept.  And  the 
poor  fellow  often  comes  to  grief  in  consequence.  We  shall,  for  the  sake  of  detailing 
the  business  of  mining  in  its  several  branches  in  the  best  manner  we  can,  enter  into 
the  disputes  which  so  frequently  occur  between  the  boss  and  the  miner  which  often 
lead  to  bad  consequences  in  the  mining  business.  And  this  is  not  at  all  departing 
from  our  descriptions  of  modes  and  methods  of  operating  a  colliery  in  the  least ; 
because  the  miner  must  be  dealt  with  as  well  as  the  mines,  and  I  have  an  idea  that 
this  very  important  item  (the  miner)  of  the  mining  interests,  is  entitled  to  a  little 
more  respect  than  a  mining  mule. 

But  you  have  left  Harry  and  Bill  standing  in  the  muddy  roadway  of  the  gang- 
way. They  have  a  little  dialogue  of  their  own  concerning  the  gutter  on  the  low 
side  used  as  the  water  level  or  drain.  For  the  sake  of  information  let  us  join  them. 

"  Bill,  would  it  not  be  better  to  have  the  gutter  on  the  upper  side  of  the  track ; 
cut  away  into  the  bottom  slate  for  instance  1" 

"  That  is  what  I  have  never  seen  before,"  growls  Bill ;  "  it  seems  unnatural 
to  have  the  gutter  on  the  high  side." 

"  But  which  is  the  high  side  V  asks  Harry.  "  For  my  part,  the  gutter  being 
placed  in  this  manner  in  the  bottom  slate  at  the  lowest  point  would  be  literally  in 
the  lowest  side,  and  I  would  call  it  the  low  side.  Here  we  have  it,"  and  Harry 
draws  a  sketch  and  discusses  its  merits  (Fig.  9). 

"  Now  here  is  your  old  gutter  in  the  coal  at  A.  Here  is  the  gutter  to  be  cut 
out  of  the  bottom  rock  at  B,  and  so  deeply  into  it  as  to  be  used  as  a  water  course 
after  this  lift  has  been  abandoned  and  worked  off." 

"  What  use  would  it  be  then  V  asks  Bill,  bluntly. 


VENTILATION". 


1-29 


"  Don't  you  see  it  would  collect  all  the  water  coming  over  the  bottom  slate  from 
the  surface  and  pass  it  off  without  bothering  the  pumps  of  our  lower  lifts,  after  the 
workings  of  the  lower  levels  fall  through  or  are  driven  into  this  water  level  gangway?" 

Fig.  9. 


"  But  look  at  the  extra  expense  of  cutting  the  gutter  in  the  rock ;  it  would  cost 
an  additional  two  or  three  dollars  per  yard.  And  then  what  will  it  matter  to  us  or 
our  owners ;  we  may  be,  God  knows  where,  when  the  lower  lifts  are  worked." 

"  Now,  Bill,  look  here !"  interrupts  Harry.  "  If  this  were  my  property,  and  you 
were  a  lessee,  you  would  not  extract  a  pound  of  the  coal  from  this  water  level  unless 
you  agreed  to  build  a  permanent  water  course  as  you  progressed  with  your  water 
level  mining.  I  should  not  be  so  green  as  to  lease  any  of  my  property  to  be  ruined 
by  any  parties  who  would  not  lease  with  a  clause  inserted  to  bind  them  to  such  an 

17 


130 


THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


arrangement.  Look  at  that  gutter !  it  is  flooded.  There  are  not  less  than  three 
hundred  gallons  of  water  per  minute  delivered  by  that  shabby  little  drain  of  yours. 
Now  when  this  coal  is  worked  below  us — which  it  will  be  within  a  dozen  years  of 
this  time — that  water  will  be  pumped  up  from  the  next  lift,  and  then,  after  that,  from 
the  deeper  lifts  second  and  third,  and  Heaven  only  knows  how  far  it  will  run  down 
into  the  mines  when  they  are  opened  below  us  in  after  years." 

"  Yes!  but  how  would  you  build  and  support  this  permanent  water  level1?"  asks 
Bill,  in  a  tone  of  assurance. 

Fig.  10. 


"  By  driving  the  whole  gangway  into  the  bottom  rock,  and  by  securing  it  with 
timber  set  up  in  the  'jugglar'  fashion,  according  to  Fig.  10.  By  using  packing 
behind  the  legs  in  the  manner  represented,  after  a  portion  of  the  solid  coal  has  been 


VENTILATION".  131 

removed,  we  should  avoid  the  serious  crush  which  comes  on  timber  which  is  wedged 
up  against  it  with  nothing  intervening  to  mitigate  the  immense  strain.  Besides 
forming  a  permanent  water  level,  it  would  form  a  permanent  gangway,  which  is 
more  desirable  still,  as  it  would  not  require  relief  timbers.  Stumps  of  coal  would 
not  be  required  above  the  gangway.  Then  look  at  the  room  we  have  for  a  monkey 
gangway  to  use  an  air-course  either  in  the  position  shown  at  A  or  at  B  (Fig.  10);  a 
single  prop  would  suffice  at  A  and  double  timbers  at  B.  In  addition  to  these  advan- 
tages we  could  work  the  breasts  of  our  lower  lifts  clear  up  to  this  level  and  cause  it 
to  suffer  no  injury." 

After  Bill  examines  the  sketches  which  Harry  has  drawn  in  his  dirty  time  book, 
he  ventures  to  ask  concerning  the  cost  of  such  a  gangway. 

"  With  the  use  of  a  compressed  air  drill,"  says  Harry,  "  I  could  drive  such  a 
gangway  for  twenty  dollars  per  lineal  yard,  which  is  less  than  this  our  present  gang- 
way will  swallow  up  before  it  is  finished,  after  it  has  been  supplied  with  its  sets  of 
relief  timbers,  besides  other  repairs.  In  addition,  we  would  be  able  to  get  about 
one  hundred  tons  per  yard  more  before  we  robbed  any  of  the  pillars." 

"  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  do  that,"  says  Bill. 

"  I  have  just  told  you  I  would  not  leave  the  stumps  above  the  gangway  of 
this  lift.  I  would  drive  my  schutes  to  the  top  slate  and  open  the  breast  close  to  the 
upper  edge  of  the  gangway,  and  thus  have  the  benefit  of  twenty-four  feet  of  breast 
more  than  I  have.  Then  in  the  next  lift  below  I  would  drive  the  breasts  entirely 
up  to  this  gangway  and  take  advantage  of  the  rock  passage  for  an  air-course." 

"  That  would  certainly  be  a  great  advantage  to  the  people  of  the  lower  lifts. 
It  would  drain  off  the  light  gases  they  will  have.  Look,  here  are  a  number  of  gas 
bubbles  escaping  at  all  times  in  this  place,"  says  Bill,  with  a  little  more  of  grace  in 
his  tone.  And  he  takes  his  lamp  and  puts  the  flame  into  contact  with  the  escaping 
bubbles,  and  lo !  a  little  blue  flame  shoots  out  of  the  gutter  as  the  bubbles  burst. 
"  I  bet  they  will  have  a  hot  shop  down  in  that  quarter  of  the  mine  when  they  come 
to  open  it  out,"  chuckles  Bill,  in  a  manner  indicating  that  he  will  not  be  of  the 
party  which  is  to  contend  against  the  gases  in  the  lower  levels  of  the  mines. 

"All  right,  Bill;  I  have  just  been  fooling  you  into  a  better  temper;  we  shall 
not  drive  the  gangway  into  the  bottom  rock.  The  people  here  will  think  us  crazy  if 


132  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

we  propose  such  a  plan,  and  we  are  not  the  land-owners,  nor  are  our  employers 
anything  but  lessees  of  very  short  duration,  unfortunately  for  themselves  and  the 
land-owners  too !" 

"  We  will  go  on  and  get  to  No.  8  and  see  if  this  scientific  man  has  any  sug- 
gestions to  make  about  the  air-current.  He  has  told  us  not  a  word  of  the  subject 
of  drainage,  nor  of  my  proposed  method  of  working  a  water  level.  I  conclude  they 
are  subjects  above  his  science,"  says  Harry,  in  tones  of  pretended  sarcasm. 

"  I  can  find  not  the  shadow  of  a  fault  with  the  remarks  you  have  made,"  you 
say.  "  Bill  has  suggested  the  great  idea  of  using  the  road  you  have  proposed  to 
make  as  an  air-course,  which  gives  your  water-course  a  double  capacity.  I  have 
given  you  both  great  credit  for  your  respective  suggestions,  and  I  shall  take  the  first 
opportunity  of  sounding  your  praises." 

Passing  along  the  gangway,  you  are  where  the  loaders  are  at  work  drawing  the 
coal  from  the  breasts.  The  air  is  getting  thick  with  powder  smoke. 

"  Look  here,  young  fellow !"  says  Harry,  turning  to  you.  "  What  brings  this 
powder  smoke  here?  The  air  is  going  inwards  and  the  breasts  outside  are  all 
stopped  up  with  coal;  at  least  those  are  in  which  the  men  are  blasting,  and  in 
spite  of  this,  right  here  we  have  the  smoke  thick  enough  to  be  cut  with  a  knife. 
How  is  this  1" 

You  look  at  him  unflinchingly,  and  tell  him  of  the  great  power  of  absorption 
and  diffusion  of  the  gases,  and  of  the  incomplete  batteries  formed  by  heaps  of  coal, 
and  the  large  areas  of  the  schutes  and  other  passages  connecting  the  breasts  with 
the  gangway.  And  you  tell  him  of  the  counter  currents  formed  by  air  passing  from 
large  passages  into  small  ones  and  then  again  from  small  ones  into  large  ones,  and 
show  the  principles  and  powers  of  endosmosis  so  well  or  so  badly  that  he  gives  the 
matter  up  and  passes  on,  leaving  the  air  to  drain  through  the  masses  of  coal  in  the 
breasts  and  bring  the  powder  smoke  along  with  it  as  if  it  were  an  impossibility  to 
prevent  it. 

Following  up  closely,  you  remark:  "If  we  had  the  other  half  of  the  air 
current  brought  forward  to  this  point  it  would  play  the  mischief  with  this  powder 
smoke.  If  you  could  make  the  headings  three  times  the  size  you  have  them,  you 


VENTILATION.  133 


would  give  us  three  times  as  much  air  to  carry  it  off.     Why  the  mules  cannot  see 
the  wagons, they  are  bumping!" 

"  That  is  too  strong,  young  fellow !  we  had  better  get  inside,  and  I  shall  take 
you  up  the  inside  breast,  and,  by  way  of  the  headings,  from  one  breast  to  another 
until  I  get  you  to  No.  8,  and  then  look  out  for  squalls,  if  you  have  not  the  wings  cut 
down" 


134  THE   ART    OF   MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

EXAMINATION  OF  BREASTS— MEASURING  OF  WORK— PARLEYS  WITH  THE  MINERS. 

So  we  pass  on  to  the  inside  schute  and  climb  up  the  inside  manway,  through 
which  a  tolerable  current  of  air  is  blowing.  (To  understand  how  the  manway  and 
heading  connections  are  made,  see  Plate  XX.) 

The  inside  schute  has  just  been  driven  up,  and  at  the  top  of  it  the  breast  has 
been  set  off  or  "  headed  over;"  but  the  manway  on  the  inside  has  not  yet  made  a  con- 
nection. Consequently  the  inside  schute  connecting  with  a  manway  driven  with  the 
breast  just  on  the  outside  of  it  receives  the  current  of  air  carried  to  this  point,  and 
thence  the  current  may  be  traced  from  the  heading  above  the  schute  to  this  manway ; 
from  this  manway  again  to  the  upper  heading ;  from  the  upper  heading  into  the 
breast ;  and  the  headings  and  man  ways  in  the  pillars  intervening  between  this  point 
and  the  air-way  perform  a  like  service  until  the  air  is  delivered  to  the  air-way,  and 
passed  off  to  the  surface  through  the  wooden  shaft  built  on  the  top  of  it.  It  is  away 
up  on  the  mountain  amongst  the  bushes,  where,  of  a  frosty  morning,  you  will  see  a 
cloud  of  vapor  caused  by  the  condensation  of  the  moisture  and  gases  brought  out  of 
the  mines.  This  cloud  has  a  ghastly  appearance,  and  gives  out  an  unhealthy  odor 
as  it  thrusts  itself  up  into  the  pure  air,  which  in  cold  weather  seems  to  have  a  decided 
antipathy  to  the  stuff,  and  apparently  receives  it  as  an  unwelcome  guest.  But  here 
is  shown  the  contrast  existing  between  the  two  atmospheres — that  nasty  gray  cloud 
of  the  mine  as  if  coming  from  the  infernos,  and  that  other  beautiful  azure  of  the 
heavens — the  one  breathing  plague  and  pestilence  and  death,  the  other  showering 
the  blessings  of  the  celestial  regions  over  all  creation. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  versed  in  systematic  ventilation,  we  shall  describe  the 
manner  of  stopping  the  air  more  in  detail. 

The  stoppings  of  the  headings  are  formed  by  the  masses  of  coal  in  the  breast- 
rooms,  rilling  them  up  as  the  excavation  becomes  filled  with  loose  coal,  and  as  this 
blocks  up  the  entire  chamber  formed.  But  such  stoppings  do  not  seem  to  be  air-tight 


EXAMINATION   OF    BREASTS.  135 

in  spite  of  the  large  masses  of  coal  lying  against  them.  Nevertheless,  if  a  large  amount 
of  air  were -put  into  circulation  through  large  passages  and  the  currents  were  travel- 
ling at  a  moderate  speed,  the  waste  of  air  would  not  be  appreciable.  But  when  the 
reverse  of  this  is  the  case  the  small  leaks  of  air  soaking  through  those  masses  of  coal 
seriously  affect  the  innermost  places  which  are  always  the  busiest  and  require  the 
greater  amount  of  air  to  ventilate  them. 

At  the  outside  breast-rooms  the  air  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  one-half  of 
which  finds  its  way  to  the  empty  breast-rooms  to  pass  at  will  among  them  to  diffuse 
and  carry  off  the  gases  generated  in  them,  which  are  for  the  most  part  a  mixture  of 
the  mine  gases,  that  often  predominating  being  sulphurous  acid  derived  from  the 
decomposition  of  the  sulphurets  of  iron  (Fe,  S2).  This  decomposition  is  accelerated 
by  the  action  of  moisture  and  the  water  which  soaks  into  the  rocks — top  and  bottom — 
both  of  which  contain  an  abundance  of  those  pyrites.  If  the  rocks  fracture  and 
cave  in,  the  pyrites  are  much  more  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air  and  its  moistures. 
This  then  forms  the  white  damp  of  the  miner,  named  so  on  account  of  the  white 
top  it  puts  over  the  flame  of  his  lamp  or  candle,  especially  when  it  becomes  mixed 
with  fire-damp.  It  has  also  been  termed  stone  gas.  Its  poisonous  qualities  are 
too  well  known  to  miners  to  need  discussion  just  at  this  place. 

Returning  to  the  air-current  and  your  companions,  Harry  and  Bill,  you  will  con- 
tinue your  course  around  the  works,  and  chat  a  little  with  the  miners  in  the  breasts, 
whom  you  find  to  be  of  all  the  emigrating  nationalities. 

"  Now,  what  do  you  think  of  this  breeze,"  asks  Harry,  putting  his  light  opposite 
the  heading  you  have  just  crawled  through  into  the  inside  breast. 

"  The  breeze  you  refer  to  is  well  enough,  if  it  were  large  enough.  You  see  it 
is  not  projected  with  a  greater  velocity  than  one  foot  and  a  half  per  second.  Now, 
one  foot  and  a  half  per  second  into  the  sectional  area  of  the  heading,  which  is  six 
feet,  gives  us  five  hundred  and  forty  cubic  feet  per  minute.  This  is  the  remainder 
of  the  total  of  the  air,  and  that  portion  only  that  reaches  the  innermost  workings." 

The  miners  working  in  the  inside  breast  have  ceased  work,  and  come  down 
near  the  heading,  and  join  in  the  conversation.  Pat  and  Dennis  work  here. 
Pat  says,  "  An'  it's  the  terrible  headache  we  get  here  before  quitting  time.  It's  a 
shower  of  red-hot  prowther  schmoke  that  comes  into  the  breast  through  that  same 
heading  !  Air  !  it's  pison  !" 


136  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"Shut  up!"  says  Harry;  "  it's  whiskey,  man,  that  gets  into  that  red  head  of 
yours.  Bill,  just  examine  Pat's  cans,  and  see  if  he  has  not  a  pint  of  the  cratur  corked 
up  there !" 

"  Arrah  !  now,"  chimes  in  Dennis,  "  it's  just  as  much  as  we  can  do  to  get  the  bite 
we  put  into  our  mouths  working  in  this  powther  schmoke.  The  coal's  as  hard  as 
the  divil,  an  phat  betune  driving  the  breast,  blowing  down  top,  driving  the  manway 
and  holing  the  headings,  we  have  our  hearts  broke !  An'  it's  nine  dollars  a  yard 
you  give  us ;  be  the  holy  saints,  its  wurruth  eighteen.  The  little  drap  we  get  doesn't 
settle  the  foul  gas — " 

"  It's  the  little  drap  you  hide  in  that  five  gallon  demijohn  you  were  hugging 
home  the  other  evening  you  mean,  I  presume,"  adds  Harry,  interrupting. 

"  Faith,  and  that's  the  medicine  I  got  for  the  old  woman,"  retorts  Dennis. 
"  She's  about  being — " 

"  And  has  she  been  working  in  the  bad  air  too  V  asks  Harry,  without  allowing 
Dennis  time  to  complete  his  sentence,  which  promised  to  be  interesting  from  a 
domestic  point  of  view. 

"  You're  the  divil  shure,"  joins  in  Pat. 

"  Now,  a  little  business,  if  you  please,  gentlemen,"  says  Harry,  taking  out  his 
greasy  time  book.  "  Your  top  is  not  broken  through  yet,  and  I  cannot  measure 
your  work  for  last  month.  The  coal  is  hard,  and  your  breast  is  in  fair  condition, 
and  as  I  have  no  doubt  you  have  worked  honestly,  I  shall  turn  in  a  certain  amount  of 
the  whole  distance  you  have  driven,  and  expect  you  will  break  through  the  benches 
before  the  end  of  next  week.  Next  month  I  shall  turn  in  the  extra  amount  due  for 
breaking  through  the  seam.  Harry  has  written  a  memoranda  in  his  time  book,  and 
now  puts  it  in  his  pocket,  as  if  he  has  finished  the  business  of  the  breast  for  the 
past  month.  Pat  and  Dennis  consult  each  other  with  an  expressive  look  that  both 
understand  as  satisfactory ;  and  Harry  looks  questioningly  in  the  face  of  each,  and 
an  understanding  is  arrived  at  in  less  time  than  we  can  express  it. 

"  Well !  how  is  it,  boys,  ?"  he  asks,  as  he  rises  and  prepares  to  cross  the  breast  to 
the  heading  through  the  outside  pillar  leading  into  the  manway,  and  thence  to  the 
breast  driven  on  the  outside  of  it. 

"  It's  all  right,  sur,  and  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  same,"  says  Pat. 


EXAMINATION    OF    BREASTS.  137 

"  Well,  good-day,  and  take  care  of  yourselves,  and  don't  forget  to  keep  those 
wings  squared  up ;  if  you  leave  them  project,  your  top  benches  will  not  get  down 
easily.  And,  Dennis,  take  care  of  the  old  woman." 

"  Go  to  the  divel !"  roars  Dennis,  and  everybody  laughs,  and  you  crawl  through 
the  headings  and  manway  and  come  into  the  next  breast  outside. 

Here  you  meet  with  Jacob  and  Peter ;  Jacob  Steiner  and  Peter  Dundleberg. 
They  are  both  drilling  holes,  and  they  are  both  smoking  pipes.  When  you  make 
your  entrance  into  the  breast  they  continue  to  drill  and  to  smoke  without  any  per- 
ceptible interruption  or  alteration  being  made  in  the  churning  of  their  drills. 

Jacob  is  on  the  innermost  pillar  and  Peter  is  on  the  outside  corner.  You  first 
meet  with  Jacob,  and  Harry  salutes  him.  "  Wie  gehts"  is  answered  with  Jacob's 
"  Ziemlich  gut."  And  the  drilling — a  slow,  lifeless  kind  of  a  stroke  being  used, 
having  neither  vigor  nor  energy  about  it — continues,  as  it  is  being  carried  on,  in  a 
cloud  made  up  of  powder  smoke  and  tobacco  smoke.  There  is  no  steaming  perspi- 
ration in  the  cloud  of  smoke ;  the  strokes  of  the  drills  are  neither  sufficiently  rapid 
nor  vigorotis  enough  to  extract  a  drop  of  sweat. 

"  Let  us  go,  Bill,"  says  Harry,  looking  around  at  the  top  coal  and  pillars  as 
well  as  his  lamp  will  allow  him  to  do  through  the  smoke  in  the  breast. 

"  No !  we  should  make  those  men  blow  down  those  wings,"  says  Bill. 

"  You  must  attend  to  that,  Bill.  I  shall  not  bother  with  them.  We  can  keep 
back  enough  of  their  pay  to  warrant  the  work  being  properly  executed.  See  that 
those  wings  are  taken  off  before  pay  day.  Guten  tage,  Jacob !"  says  Harry,  as  he 
enters  the  outside  heading.  "Guten  tage,"  grunts  Jacob,  as  you  leave  them  to  their 
drills  and  their  pipes  and  their  smoke. 

When  fairly  in  the  next  breast,  Harry  sits  down  on  the  loose  coal  near  the  face 
where  two  miners  are  at  work  in  a  lather  of  sweat.  You  seat  yourselves  close  to 
Harry.  The  miners  stop  work  and  come  and  join  you.  Harry  looks  up  at  the  top 
coal  and  asks,  "  How  is  your  top  coal,  boys  V 

"  It 's  good  for  half  a  dozen  kegs  of  powder,  by  George  !"  answered  one  of  the 
miner  boys. 

"  Say,  Jack,  he  ought  to  allow  us  about  four  or  five  kegs  to  help  that  top  down ; 

18 


138  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

it 's  just  as  solid  as  a  bell,  and  it  will  make  the  kind  o'  stuff  that  '11  put  a  white  hat 
on  the  owner  ;  they  can  well  afford  it  if  they  choose  to." 

"  No,  sir-ee  !"  says  Harry,  promptly.  "  Men  who  ca'n  afford  to  lose  fifty  dollars 
a  month  on  a  race  and  the  like  sports  can  buy  their  own  powder.  It 's  not  only  the 
money  you  lose  but  lots  of  your  time  is  lost  as  well.  Picnics,  races,  walking  matches, 
'  go-as-you-please,'  and  the  like.  The  top  coal  did  not  trouble  you  a  week  to-day. 
Charley,  you  are  a  bad  boy !"  Harry  shakes  his  head,  disapprovingly. 

Charley  is  silent,  and  does  not  relish  the  laugh  the  others  are  enjoying  at  his 
expense.  A  week  to-day  has  reference  to  an  affair  of  Charley's  which  ended  in  his 
being  cleaned  out  by  a  couple  of  New  Yorkers  in  some  of  the  New  York  gambling 
dens,  where  he  had  had  the  hardihood  to  venture  with  a  few  months'  savings. 

The  banter  stops  at  this  allusion,  and  Harry  lets  out  on  the  boys  in  this  wise : 
"  Now,  lads,  you  are  very  foolish.  You  are  now  working  like  horses  to  make  up 
for  the  time  and  money  you  have  lost  at  gambling  lately.  You  are  both  alike  ;  not 
a  toss-up  in  the  difference  between  you." 

"  But  we  have  reformed,"  says  Jack. 

"  Ah  !  yes,  you  have  reformed,  no  doubt.  You  have  pawned  yourselves.  For 
the  next  two  months  at  least  your  pay  is  pledged." 

"  And  by ,  sir,  we  are  the  boys  who  intend  to  keep  that  pledge,"  says  Jack, 

"  if  we  cannot  keep  any  other." 

"  You  are  all  right  there,"  says  Harry.  "  No  danger  of  your  going  back  on  the 
friends  who  pull  you  out  of  the  mire  you  stick  in  so  often.  Reformation !  Oh, 
certainly,  till  you  get  another  ten  dollar  bill  in  your  possession."  Harry  looks 
knowingly  into  the  boys'  faces,  and  says,  "  Let  us  leave  these  lads  to  their  good 
resolutions  which  are  just  as  well,  if  they  are  not  of  a  voluntary  character.  Take 
care  of  yourselves,  and  don't  let  your  hurry  to  catch  up  lead  you  into  any  danger. 
There 's  more  accidents  to  be  scored  to  this  hurry-up  never  thinking  system  of 
working  in  mines  than  to  any  other  I  know  of.  Good-day,  boys !" 

Before  you  get  into  the  heading  leading  to  another  breast,  "  the  boys"  are  again 
working  with  a  will. 

"Aye,"  mutters  Harry,  as  he  is  crawling  through  the  heading;  "they're  like  a 
great  many  others  who  work  like  horses,  and  spend  their  earnings  like  asses." 


EXAMINATION    OF   BREASTS.  139 

"  You  better  hold  up  there,"  calls  out  Bill,  who  is  following  Harry  through  the 
heading;  NI  think  some  one  is  working  in  the  man  way."  Harry  stops  before  he 
reaches  the  manway,  and  calls  out,  "  Halloo  up  there !" 

There  is  no  response ;  possibly  owing  to  the  sound  not  reaching  the  men  in  the 
breast  on  the  outside  of  you. 

"  There's  no  one  up  here,  Bill,"  says  Harry. 

"  You  had  better  wait  a  little ;  I  heard  some  one  crawl  through  the  upper 
heading,  or  my  ears  have  played  me  false.  Sing  out  again  to  make  sure,"  advises 
BUI. 

There  is  no  need  to  do  so ;  in  a  second  more  there  was  an  explosion.  A 
blast  is  fired  in  the  manway,  and  the  wind  driven  from  it  blows  out  your  lights  at 
once.  At  the  same  time  the  coal  from  the  blast  shoots  down  the  manway  past  the 
end  of  the  heading  in  which  you  sit  waiting. 

"  That's  a  near  shave,  Bill.  But  for  your  timely  warning,  boy,  some  of  us  would 
have  been  toppling  over  and  over,  like  the  coal  rushing  pellmell  down  to  the  plat- 
form. I'll  give  those  two  Welshmen  particular,  when  I  get  up  to  them !"  Harry 
puts  such  an  emphasis  into  his  threat  that  one  could  not  but  guess  what  was  meant 
by  the  "  particular"  which  was  to  be  presented  to  the  Welshmen. 

You  crawl  into  the  Welshmen's  breast  without  further  delay.  You  find  them 
"  taking  their  whiffs"  near  the  breast. 

"  Why  don't  you  men  give  notice  before  you  fire  a  shot  V  asks  Harry,  in  a  tone 
of  anger  which  made  Billy  Jones  and  Billy  Williams  (usually  called  the  two  Billies) 
take  their  pipes  out  of  their  mouths,  and  stare  at  you  as  if  you  were  ghosts  come  to 
them  without  your  lights  burning.  They  exchange  looks  with  each  other,  and  with 
each  of  you,  as  if  they  did  not  comprehend  exactly  what  was  really  meant.  "  Has 
anything  gone  wrong,  man-dear  ?"  asks  Billy  Jones  in  a  tone  of  consternation. 

"  My  good  Lord,  what  be  the  matter,  men  \  For  good — ness  sake  do  speak,  some 
of  you !"  implores  Billy  Williams. 

"  You  know  you  have  just  fired  a  shot  in  the  manway !"  says  Harry,  severely. 

"  Yes !  goodness  gracious,  yes !"  chime  in  Billy  Jones  and  Billy  Williams  at 
the  same  time,  as  if  it  were  a  chorus  they  were  repeating  (they  were  noted  singers), 
and  they  waited  in  breathless  expectation  for  what  was  to  follow. 


140  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

"  Don't  you  know  what  is  the  consequence  when  you  fire  a  shot  on  the  top  of 
people  coming  up  the  manway "?"  asks  Harry,  beginning  to  enjoy  their  excitement 
and  confusion ;  and  to  punish  them  he  delays  the  explanation. 

"  Who  is  hurt  V  asks  Billy  Jones  in  alarm. 

"  My  goodness,  be  anybody  killed  V  implores  Billy  Williams,  looking  search- 
ingly  into  Harry's  severe  countenance. 

This  is  more  than  you  can  bear,  and  there  is  a  roar  of  laughter  all  around. 

Jack  and  Charley  had  heard  the  firing  of  the  blast,  and  thinking  it  might 
have  caught  some  of  you  in  the  manway,  have  come  to  ascertain  for  themselves  if 
your  party  has  escaped.  Their  appearance  does  not  in  any  way  pacify  the  excite- 
ment of  the  two  Billies.  Jack  and  Charley,  seeing  you  are  all  right,  and  guessing 
the  drift  of  Harry's  sarcasm,  are  ready  to  join  in  the  merriment. 

"  Well,  this  is  better  than  we  hoped  to  find  things  here  when  we  came,"  says 
Jack,  "and  I'm  heartily  glad  that  we  have  not  to  use  a  stretcher  for  any  of  you. 
This  is  worth  a  pull.  We'll  have  a  whiff,  at  your  expense ;  so  hand  over  your 
baccay  fobs." 

The  Billies  produce  their  pouches  well  filled  with  the  bird's-eye. 

At  least  half  an  hour  is  spent  with  the  two  Billies,  and  it  is  taken  advantage 
of  to  call  to  mind  some  of  the  blasting  accidents,  and  the  very  near  escapes  that  each 
of  you  have  known  of. 

Jack  and  Charley  leave,  and  while  still  in  the  heading,  Jack  calls  out  sarcasti- 
cally, "  Say,  Billy,  you'll  give  us  a  knock  when  you  are  about  to  blow  a  hole  through 
into  us,  won't  you1?  The  fourth  of  July  '11  be  here  one  of  these  days ;  let  us  have  a 
chance  of  spending  it." 

"  You  bet  we'll  knock  you  a  signal  the  next  shot  we  fire  in  the  manway ;  we'll 
not  forget  this  lesson,  you  may  depend,"  responds  Billy  Jones. 

"  And  thank  the  good  Lord  it  is  no  worse  than  it  is,  responds  Billy  Williams, 
piously ;  "  I  can  sleep  this  night  in  peace." 

You  leave  the  two  Billies,  and  having  spent  considerable  time  so  far,  do  not 
delay.  No.  8  breast  measured  finally,  leaves  you  at  liberty  to  gather  up  your  tools,  and 
take  them  to  the  surface  by  way  of  the  air-way,  through  which  your  late  companions 
have  just  crawled.  There  you  experience  what  you  have  often  done  before,  the 


EXAMINATION   OF   BREASTS.  141 

effects  of  a  sudden  transition  from  the  atmosphere  of  a  mine,  highly  charged  with 
deleterious  gases,  to  the  pure  atmosphere  of  the  surface,  as  it  is  found  under  the 
shade  of  the  trees.  You  respire  it  with  your  lungs  fully  inflated,  as  if  desirous  of 
making  good  any  loss  you  have  suffered  by  your  incarceration  in  the  mine.  You 
mournfully  reflect  on  that  system  of  ventilation  which  deals  out  a  substance  so 
sparingly  to  the  miner,  as  if  it  were  a  scarce  and  costly  article,  instead  of  being  the 
most  voluminous  substance  in  the  universe,  and  one  which  will  thrust  itself  into 
every  remote  corner  of  a  mine  if  you  only  allow  it  to  do  so,  and  provide  a  simple 
road  for  it  to  travel. 


142  THE   ART    OF   MINING   COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

GENERAL  CONCLUSIONS,  WITH  A  COMPARISON  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  SYSTEMS  OF  MINING. 

IT  is  the  usual  practice  of  writers  on  coal  mining  to  divide  the  work  off  under 
several  systems,  and  to  dwell  elaborately  on  each.  In  the  preceding  pages  we  have 
given  but  two  examples  in  mining;  but  these  have  been  amply  illustrated  and 
described,  and  comprise  the  chief  features  of  practical  mining. 

The  first  section  speaks  in  a  general  way  of  mining,  and  of  the  system  of  long 
wall,  which  varies  very  little  from  working  out  the  broken  by  the  board  and  pillar 
system  which  we  have  described  in  the  second  section.  The  one  takes  out  the  coal 
advancing,  and  cuts  its  roads  through  the  stratum  forming  the  natural  roof  of  the 
coal  seam  as  it  sinks  into  the  excavation.  The  other  system  takes  its  roads  to  the 
boundaries,  and  runs  a  network  of  passages  or  excavations  through  the  coal  bed  to 
form  what  are  termed  the  pillars.  These  are  finally  taken  out,  and  the  roof  above 
them  falls  into  the  spaces  which  those  pillars  have  occupied. 

Generally,  those  pillars  are  first  taken  out  at  the  mine's  limits,  and  the  space 
left  between  those  limits  and  the  pillars  being  operated  on,  forms  what  has  been 
termed  a  goaf,  through  which  no  roads  are  required. 

There  is  not  so  much  difference  between  getting  out  the  coal  of  a  seam  by 
either  of  those  methods  as  there  is  between  the  coal  seams  themselves.  One  seam 
may  be  thick  and  highly  inclined ;  another  may  be  thin,  and  lying  nearly  horizon- 
tally, or  the  reverse  may  be  the  case.  They  require  to  be  differently  treated  in  some 
respects;  but  the  main  object  to  be  kept  in  view,  is,  or  should  be,  to  take  out  the 
whole  bed  in  a  property  with  the  least  possible  delay  and  expense.  If  we  lay  off  a 
thick  seam  of  coal  lying  at  a  high  degree  of  inclination,  which  is  to  be  worked  in 
pillars,  ten  to  one  that  not  one  of  those  pillars  can  ever  be  taken  out,  except  under 
the  most  favorable  conditions.  Pillars  they  tell  us  have  been  run  out  or  crushed 
out,  and  their  products  have  been  loaded  on  the  gangway,  as  they  have  run  down  on 
the  floor  of  the  seam.  But  this  is  as  it  may  be,  and  if  in  such  cases  the  rock  comes 


GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS.  143 

down  after  a  portion  of  the  pillar  has  been  run  out,  this  stops  the  further  produce 
of  the  pillar.  This  is  according  to  the  general  rule  in  the  United  States  in  the  thick 
beds  of  anthracite  which  lie  highly  inclined,  and  how  this  is  so,  any  one  studying 
the  plates  which  show  the  mining  of  such  seams  in  detail  will  readily  understand. 
Plate  XX.  shows  us  a  range  of  pillars  as  they  are  left  in  a  mine  which  is  termed 
"  worked  out"  on  the  map  of  it,  or  on  the  map  of  this  particular  portion  of  it,  and 
more  than  one-half  of  the  coal  the  seam  originally  contained  is  still  left  in  that 
particular  mine. 

The  system  of  working  coal  in  France  by  remblais  seems  to  be  the  one  best 
suited  to  all  thick  and  highly  inclining  coal  beds.  But  its  introduction  into  this 
country  would  be  attended  by  much  opposition.  Miners  do  not  relish  the  idea  of 
changing  from  old-established  plans  to  new  ones ;  and  as  those  miners  have  a  right 
to  question  the  merits  of  any  proposed  change  of  this  kind,  on  account  of  the  great 
risk  they,  in  all  cases,  run,  they  cannot  be  blamed  for  raising  any  reasonable  objec- 
tions, which  few  would  like  to  take  the  responsibility  of  ruling  out. 

Yet  it  is  on  account  of  its  safety  that  the  French  mode  of  working  can  be 
most  urgently  advocated  as  the  plan  to  be  used  in  highly  inclined  and  thick  beds  of 
coal.  The  lifts  being  kept  under  two  metres  (about  six  feet  six  inches),  keeps  the 
roof  within  the  workman's  reach,  so  that  it  may  be  easily  propped  and  kept  secure 
until  it  is  packed  up  by  the  remblais.  Besides,  the  extent  of  roof  over  an  advancing 
face  being  so  limited,  no  serious  difficulty  can  be  experienced  from  the  effects  of  a 
crush,  as  if  it  were  the  solid  rock  pressing  on  the  coal  cut  away  from  the  seam. 

The  board  and  pillar  system,  as  applied  in  the  Yorkshire  mines  of  half  a  century 
ago.  very  nearly  approaches  long  wall,  because  not  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  coal 
was  left  in  pillars.  These  latter  the  roof  crushed  out  as  it  settled  down,  and  their 
contents  were  lost. 

The  same  plan  is  pursued  in  the  Wyoming  Valley;  and  on  account  of  thin 
pillars  being  left  when  the  roof  breaks  extensively  in  any  one  locality  so  as  to  weaken 
the  lateral  support,  a  "  cave-in"  is  the  consequence,  which  is  often  very  extensive  in 
character,  on  account  of  the  pillars  being  so  thin  as  to  allow  them  to  be  crushed 
down  by  the  increasing  weight  of  the  lowering  strata.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  grave 
results  will  be  the  consequence,  if  such  caves-in  take  place  near  the  Susquehanna 
River,  which  flows  through  that  valley. 


144  THE   ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

But  the  plan  of  mining  pursued  at  a  colliery  is  not  of  any  greater  moment  than 
that  of  arranging  the  men,  and  dividing  the  work.  It  is  as  much  owing  to  the  admir- 
able system  of  dividing  the  work  among  the  men  that  such  great  results  have  been 
attained  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field.  From  some  of  the  coal  seams  worked  there 
under  four  feet  in  thickness,  two  thousand  tons  of  coal  are  sent  daily  to  the  surface. 
.  A  miner  there  has  never  to  put  down  his  own  tools  with  which  he  is  well  prac- 
tised to  take  up  those  of  the  deputy,  to  set  his  timber  or  lay  his  track,  or  put  up  his 
brattice.  When  he  goes  into  his  board-room  or  jud,  he  expects  that  the  wagons  will 
be  brought  to  the  end  of  his  track  as  fast  as  he  needs  them,  and  that  there  will  be 
little  or  no  interruption  of  the  work  while  his  short  shift  lasts.  He  is  seldom  disap- 
pointed in  this  matter.  He  does  not  often  get  a  chance  to  sit  down,  and  it  is  well 
that  he  does  not,  for  then  the  sweat  would  dry  upon  his  person,  and  he  would 
become  chilled ;  which,  to  be  repeated  day  after  day,  as  it  is  in  some  localities  among 
certain  miners,  would  in  time  produce  miner's  consumption,  a  disease  as  prevalent 
in  our  mines  as  it  is  exceptional  in  the  mines  in  the  north  of  England,  where  the 
hours  of  the  miner  are  as  busy  as  they  are  short,  being  little  more  than  six  hours, 
during  which  the  pick  is  quickly  and  skilfully  plied.  Take  away  the  mining  engi- 
neers of  the  north  of  England,  and  the  hands  trained  to  work  systematically,  and 
put  Thomas,  Richard,  and  Henry  in  their  places,  and  they  will  do  no  better  than 
they  do  in  other  parts,  where  little  attention  is  paid  to  such  an  important  matter  as 
the  proper  distribution  of  labor,  which  in  those  mines  is  as  well  regulated  as  it  is  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  of  Philadelphia,  which  is  a 
model  one  of  its  kind  in  this  important  particular. 

But  credit  is  not  due  to  the  men  any  more  than  to  the  "  lads"  of  those  mines. 
The  trapper  at  his  door  is  hardly  initiated  before  he  is  taught  something  of  the  post 
to  which  he  is  to  succeed  next,  which  usually  is  that  of  the  driver.  At  about  twelve 
years  a  boy  is  supposed  to  be  sharp  enough  to  manage  a  horse  well  trained  to  per- 
form the  peculiar  work  he  is  required  to  do.  He  waxes  in  this  position  of  driver, 
and  then  falls  into  the  chance  or  irregular  one  of  timber  leader,  or  station  clerk,  or 
something  else,  until  he  is  able  to  put  with  a  pony,  or  by  hand.  This  carries  him 
into  manhood,  with  generally  a  great  deal  of  brass  in  his  face,  and  sometimes  enough 


GENERAL   CONCLUSIONS.  145 

of  iron  in  his  "heart  to  carry  him  safely  through  his  future  existence.  He  may  take 
his  place  next  as  a  hewer.  If  he  turn  out  well,  he  may  get  to  be  a  deputy,  and 
then  an  overman ;  and  in  time,  if  he  have  any  one  to  direct  his  studies,  may  become 
an  expert  at  mining  engineering.  But  those  of  the  pitman  who  have  risen  to  this 
stage  have  been  rare  exceptions.  However,  Stephenson,  the  engineer,  and  Hutton, 
the  mathematician,  were  both  pit  lads,  and  worked  in  the  mines  of  the  Newcastle 
coal  field. 

So  far  we  have  made  little  or  no  allusion  to  any  part  of  the  machinery  of  the 
mine,  beyond  that  used  in  underground  transportations,  not  even  to  the  on-setting 
machines,  now  becoming  introduced  into  the  English  mines,  nor  to  the  self-dumping 
arrangements  which,  properly  speaking,  hardly  belong  to  a  work  whose  main  object 
is  to  describe  the  manner  of  the  mining  out  of  coal  beds. 

Our  plates  have  been  made  with  the  object  of  giving  general  and  detailed 
ideas  concerning  the  mining  of  coal  and  the  ventilation  of  the  working  faces,  which 
generally  give  out  gas  in  a  certain  ratio  to  the  amount  of  coal  cut  in  a  given  time, 
more  than  in  any  proportion  to  the  area  or  extent  of  mine  opened.  The  Plates  I., 
II.,  III.,  and  IV.  have  shown  how  the  ventilation  is  conducted  and  distributed  around 
the  mine.  Plate  HI.  shows  the  crossings  and  mode  of  "  splitting"  and  regulating 
on  a  large  scale.  Plate  IV.  shows  not  only  an  officer  who  has  his  eyes  and  ears  at 
all  times  applied  to  detect  variations  of  the  air-currents,  etc.,  but  also  other  important 
details  whose  uses  are  manifestly  obvious  to  any  observer. 

The  succeeding  plates,  up  to  IX.,  belong  as  much  to  the  transportation  of  the 
mine's  produce  as  to  the  cutting  of  the  coal,  and  illustrate  many  details  which  are 
not  generally  understood,  even  among  miners,  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  where 
mining  regulations  have  not  been  reduced  to  a  general  system. 

Following  up  in  the  line  of  our  illustrations,  we  next  come  to  a  series  of  views 
which  represent  the  working  out  of  the  coal  finally ;  and  when  this  is  done  by  the 
system  of  juds  or  lifts  as  the  mining  is  retreating,  or  by  long  wall  in  advancing,  the 
actual  difference  existing  between  the  two  methods,  as  far  as  the  digging  out  of  the  coal 
is  concerned,  does  not  really  amount  to  anything  serious.  The  forming  of  the  gate- 
ways is  the  chief  feature  in  which  the  difference  consists ;  and  perhaps,  too,  because 
the  holing  and  advancing  are  done  in  the  line  of  the  advancing  wall  face,  instead  of 

19 


146  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

being  taken  off  in  "  lifts"  or  "  juds,"  as  in  the  case  of  working  the  pillars  in  the 
broken  workings. 

A  change  from  the  wooden  to  the  iron  prop  is  also  peculiar  to  long  wall  in 
propping.  This  causes  the  roof  to  break  off  in  lines  parallel  to  the  props  as  they 
are  set  in  the  wall  face  in  rows;  and  this  brings  the  falling  of  the  roof  to  some 
extent  within  the  control  of  the  mine  officers. 

In  either  case,  the  miner  takes  out  the  coal,  and  allows  the  roof  to  cave  in 
behind  him,  and  as  far  as  the  management  of  the  roof  is  concerned,  he  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it. 

Particular  attention  paid  to  the  propping  up  of  the  roof  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance everywhere ;  and  several  views  have  shown  us  how  carefully  this  is  done  in 
the  mines  of  the  north  of  England,  where  the  deputies  attend  to  such  matters. 
Where  the  miners  do  this  work,  as  they  do  in  some  other  localities,  the  propping  up 
of  the  roof  is  often  sadly  neglected,  and  the  men  prefer  to  run  great  risks  in  order 
to  avoid  a  little  trouble. 

Following  up  we  transfer  our  scenes  from  works  in  mines  lying  nearly  hori- 
zontal, to  those  lying  on  a  dip  of  about  45°,  and  by  a  series  of  plates  have  given 
views  of  the  different  excavations  cut  in  the  beds  of  anthracite  found  in  Pennsylvania, 
United  States  of  America.  Plate  XX.  has  given  us  a  general  idea  of  the  plan  of 
working  which  seems  to  be  universal  in  those  mines.  As  the  pillars  are  left  as  a 
rule,  in  spite  of  the  pretence  made  to  rob  them,  much  of  the  coal  is  left  in  the  mines 
in  such  an  isolated  condition  as  to  render  it  an  impossibility  for  it  to  be  approached 
by  any  other  means  than  by  cutting  a  road  through  the  bottom  rock,  in  the  manner 
shown  in  Chapter  XXI.,  and  no  doubt  many  of  the  mines  will  be  worked  over  a 
second  time  by  the  mode  we  have  suggested ;  because,  the  bottom  rocks  being  in 
most  cases  hard,  are  not  likely  to  be  affected  by  the  crush  which  is  brought  to  bear 
on  the  gangways  after  the  pillars  have  been  disturbed. 

By  late  surveys  it  has  been  found  that  little  over  one-third  of  the  coal  has  been 
sent  to  market  at  the  first  mining  over  of  the  various  properties,  which  are  termed 
on  the  maps  as  being  "  worked  out."  Reference  to  Plate  XX.  should  explain  how 
this  is,  and  Plate  XXIII.,  detailing  important  features,  assists  to  show  how  the 
immense  bodies  of  coal  left  in  pillars  swell  the  amount  of  deficiencies,  when  the 


GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS.  147 

area  of  a  mine  worked  over  is  called  to  account  concerning  its  original  contents,  in 
order  to  compare  them  with  its  actual  product. 

The  breasts  of  coal  are  not  always  driven  up  the  incline  of  the  seam,  as  we 
have  shown  them  to  be ;  but  they  are  so  similarly  disposed  towards  each  other  when 
they  are  driven  level  or  diagonally  across  their  floors,  in  order  to  ease  the  grade  of 
the  railroad  track  used  within  the  excavations,  as  not  to  alter  the  system  of  mining 
used  in  the  least ;  it  only  changes  the  direction  of  the  breasts. 

With  a  few  exceptions  of  splitting  or  dividing  the  main  body  of  air  into  several 
currents,  the  ventilation  is  effected  by  the  air  being  coursed  around  the  works  in  an 
undivided  body ;  although  at  most  of  the  collieries  large  fans  are  at  work,  exhausting 
the  air  from  the  mines,  whose  force  in  a  number  of  instances  is  spent  in  a  bad  under- 
ground arrangement  of  the  air-courses. 

On  account  of  the  great  thickness  of  the  seams,  good  opportunities  offer  them- 
selves in  favor  of  ventilation ;  because,  in  some  mines,  large  air-courses  may  be 
driven  at  less  expense  than  in  thin  seams.  This  is  especially  the  case  where  the 
seams  lie  at  a  low  degree  of  inclination. 


SECTION   IV. 

THE  VENTILATING  FAN— UNDERGROUND  FIRES— ELLENVILLE  COLLIERY, 

MAHANOY  COAL  BASIN,  PEXNA. 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

THE  VENTILATING  FAN— HOW  IT  SHOULD  BE  CONSTRUCTED  AND  ARRANGED— PRINCIPLES 

OF  ITS  ACTION  DESCRIBED. 

To  promote  a  current  of  air  in  mines,  there  are  two  modes  of  destroying  the 
equilibrium  of  the  atmosphere,  a  condition  which  must  be  accomplished  before  any 
movement  of  air  can  take  place.  By  the  use  of  a  large  furnace,  or  a  set  of  large 
furnaces,  such  as  are  used  at  some  of  the  large  collieries  in  the  north  of  England,  a 
powerful  current  of  air  may  be  put  in  motion.  As  many  as  two  hundred  thousand 
cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute  have  been  used  to  ventilate  some  of  those  mines.  By 
weight  this  amount  of  air  is  over  seven  tons.  This,  in  one  remarkable  instance,  has 
been  accomplished  by  the  use  of  three  furnaces,  acting  in  combination.  But  in  this 
one  instance,  at  least,  the  aggregate  grate  surface  was  nearly  four  hundred  superfi- 
cial feet,  and  the  consumption  of  coal  approximated  a  ton  an  hour !  This  is  an 
expensive  method  of  raising  the  wind,  even  if  the  coal  is  consumed  at  Newcastle ! 

The  action  of  the  ventilating  furnace  is  very  generally  understood,  and  its  power 
depends  on  the  amount  of  heat  invested  in  a  body  of  air  ascending  in  a  vertical  shaft 
above  the  level  of  the  furnace.  The  deeper  the  shaft,  the  more  powerful  is  the 
furnace  in  which  it  is  placed  as  a  ventilating  power.  The  furnace  was  the  first  step 
made  in  the  direction  of  artificial  ventilation,  and  its  use  has  been  dwelt  on  at  length 
in  other  works.  It  depends  for  its  action  on  those  principles  set  forth  in  a  previous 
chapter,  giving  an  example  of  natural  ventilation,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat 
them  here.  This  furnace  system  of  promoting  artificial  currents  is  fast  giving  place 
to  another  in  the  shape  of  the  steam  fan,  and,  in  a  few  cases,  the  air-pump;  the  latter 
not  proving  as  suitable  as  the  former,  perhaps  on  account  of  its  complications,  and 
of  the  friction  and  weight  of  the  numerous  valves  which  require  a  certain  force  to 
move  them  at  the  changing  of  each  stroke,  and  which  are  not  kept  in  order,  except 


150  THE    ART    OF   MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

by  close  attention  and  considerable  repairs.  For  these  reasons,  the  rotary  fan,  which 
is  the  most  simple  of  our  ventilators,  will  take  a  prominent  place  in  the  ventilation 
of  mines. 

As  soon  as  the  merits  of  the  two  kinds  of  ventilating  fans  have  fully  established 
themselves,  it  will  be  found  that  the  rotary  fan,  which  projects  its  air  by  the  so-called 
centrifugal  force,  will  prove  the  most  applicable  and  most  effective.  The  other,  termed 
the  screw-fan,  can  never  be  made  to  project  the  same  amount  of  air  as  the  above, 
because  the  speed  of  the  screw  is  so  much  less  than  the  speed  of  the  vanes  of  the 
other  at  the  point  of  its  great  velocity,  on  which  it  depends  for  its  projectile  force, 
that  the  amount  of  air  put  in  motion  must  be  considerably  less  in  the  screw  fan, 
when  it  is  of  the  same  diameter  and  running  with  the  same  speed  as  the  common 
rotary,  or  if  you  prefer,  the  centrifugal  fan.  We  are  assuming  that  the  best  examples 
of  the  fans  are  understood  in  the  above  comparison.  For  the  reasons  just  shown,  we 
shall  confine  our  further  description  to  the  fan  as  it  should  be  made,  to  produce  the 
greatest  possible  effect  with  any  wheel  of  given  dimensions. 

The  fan,  properly  speaking,  is  a  projectile  machine,  and  the  particles  of  air  on 
which  it  operates  are  the  bodies  projected. 

The  outer  extremities  of  the  revolving  vanes  form  the  points  which  determine 
the  projectile  force  of  a  fanner  or  fan-wheel ;  because  these  being  the  parts  of  the 
machine  which  move  with  the  greatest  velocity  drawing  the  air  after  them  at  the 
same  rate  of  speed,  project  them  into  the  atmosphere  beyond,  at  very  nearly  the  same 
rate  of  speed,  provided  the  air  have  free  access  to  the  wheel,  which  in  most  cases  it 
has  not,  on  account  of  the  faulty  construction  of  the  fan  cases  and  connecting 
passages  more  than  on  the  faulty  construction  of  the  wheel  itself. 

Any  flat  surface  moving  through  the  air  is  better  than  any  other  for  drawing 
after  it  a  body  of  air.  Moving  in  a  straight  line,  the  said  flat  surface  will  push  a 
limited  amount  of  air  in  advance  of  it,  which  will  cushion  itself  against  the  front 
surface.  This  cushion  will  form  itself  more  like  a  cone  than  a  sphere  in  case  of  a 
round  disk,  and  more  like  a  pyramid  than  a  wedge,  in  case  of  a  parallelogram.  This 
air  will  push  off  the  air  in  advance  in  a  manner  slightly  diagonal,  and  the  displace- 
ment is  made  more  rapidly  in  front  than  in  the  rear  of  such  body ;  after  which,  the 
air  will  flow  in  a  column  of  considerable  length. 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  151 

A  fan  wheel  operates  best  when  its  fanners  are  set  in  the  same  plane,  with  a 
line  running  through  the  centre  of  the  revolving  shaft,  being  secured  properly  to 
arms  projected  at  right  angles  to  it.  To  obtain  the  best  possible  results  from  such  a 
wheel,  which  is  to  take  air  on  both  sides,  the  width  of  the  vanes  should  be  equal  to 
the  radius,  and  the  width  may  be  slightly  increased  at  its  outer  extremity.  The  vanes 
may  run  down  to  the  shaft,  according  to  the  taste  of  the  constructor;  but  the  arms  or 
centre  to  which  those  vanes  are  secured  should  be  made  in  such  a  manner  as  to  offer 
no  surfaces  to  act  against  the  ingress  of  the  air  to  the  wheel,  and  the  vanes  should 
be  made  without  any  beading  or  border,  which  will  prevent  the  air  from  entering 
into  the  circular  space,  through  which  the  fanners  revolve,  or  to  escape  from  it  as  it 
is  projected  by  the  edge  of  the  fanners. 

For  instance,  if  a  lip  were  bent  over  at  right  angles,  and  formed  on  the  outer 
edge  of  the  fan,  on  the  backside  of  it  especially,  it  would  act  in  the  same  way  to 
retard  the  air  from  escaping,  as  a  shovel  would  hinder  the  material  from  being  thrown 
away  from  it,  were  an  edge  or  lip  turned  up  on  its  front  border,  and  a  certain  portion 
of  the  fanner  would  be  rendered  ineffectual,  which  would  be  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  area  of  the  lip  so  formed. 

If  this  is  true  concerning  the  outer  edges  of  the  vanes  of  a  fan,  it  is  also  true 
of  the  sides  of  them,  past  which  the  air  must  enter  to  the  fan  space.  Any  lip  or 
other  projection  formed  on  the  side  extremities,  tends  to  reduce  the  area  of  the  inlet, 
and  oppose  the  in-going  current  in  a  ratio  equal  to  their  aggregate  areas.  Nor  does 
the  setting  of  the  vanes  so  as  to  incline  or  be  curved  back  in  a  direction  contrary  to 
their  movement  effect  any  useful  purpose  whatever ;  such  measures  tend  to  add  to 
the  friction,  by  adding  to  the  weight  of  the  machine,  and  thus  become  the  means  of 
expending  a  certain  amount  of  power  uselessly. 

For  purposes  of  illustration,  we  shall  give  shape  and  dimensions  to  our  fan- 
wheel,  and  put  it  in  motion,  to  explain  its  mode  of  action. 

The  vans  are  five  feet  wide,  and  run  down  to  the  shaft,  or  rather  to  the  hub 
fixed  on  the  shaft  to  which  they  are  secured.  The  wheel  is  ten  feet  between  the 
extremities  of  the  two  opposite  vanes,  or  in  other  words,  ten  feet  in  diameter.  The 
area  of  the  circle  in  which  the  fan  revolves  is  78.54  feet,  which,  multiplied  by  2, 
gives  us  a  product  of  the  two  circles  (that  is,  one  on  each  side  of  the  wheel),  equal 


152  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

to  157.08  feet.  Then  the  width  of  the  vane  being  five  feet,  and  the  circumference 
of  the  circle  31.416,  gives  us  as  their  product,  157.08,  which  is  the  area  of  that  annular 
space  opening  to  the  fan  from  the  outside.  Now,  as  it  will  be  shown  that  through 
this  annular  space  the  air  is  projected  by  the  action  of  the  fan,  it  is  here  shown  that 
this  outlet  exactly  corresponds  to  the  combined  inlets  of  the  two  sides,  and  that  the 
velocity  of  the  air  into  the  sides  of  the  fan  will  be  exactly  the  same  as  it  is  through 
its  annular  outlet. 

If  such  a  wheel  were  put  in  motion  in  the  open  air,  and  measures  were  applied 
to  determine  the  direction  of  the  air,  it  would  be  found  that  at  all  points  in  the  cir- 
cumference, the  air  would  be  projected  in  an  infinite  series  of  lines  tangent  to  the 
circle,  which  the  vanes  describe  at  their  outer  extremities,  and,  also,  that  the  air  in 
motion  within  the  circle  proper  would  by  contact  project  the  air  lying  within  a  cer- 
tain distance  on  each  side  of  the  vanes  at  their  outer  extremities,  so  that  the  mass  of 
air  moved  and  operated  on  would  be  greatly  in  excess  of  that  contained  within  the 
limits  of  the  circle  described  by  the  revolving  wheel. 

In  the  open  air  the  velocity  of  the  air-currents  promoted  will  be  very  nearly 
equal  to  the  velocity  of  the  fanners  at  their  outer  extremities,  as  has  been  fully  shown 
by  a  series  of  experiments  made  with  a  wheel  eight  feet  in  diameter,  wings  two  feet 
wide,  with  the  inlet  open  to  the  outer  extremities  of  wings  only  on  one  side.  Power 
up  to  ninety  horses  was  used  to  determine  the  effects  of  such  a  wheel,  and  the 
amount  of  power  required  to  attain  certain  results. 

The  experiments  alluded  to  were  tried  in  Philadelphia  by  private  parties  for 
private  purposes  in  the  year  1872,  and  it  was  also  found  that,  for  high  velocities,  two 
vanes  answered  as  well  the  purpose  of  projecting  air  as  four  did.  No  pressure  above 
five  and  one-half  inches  of  the  water  gauge  was  obtained,  and  the  air-current  then 
moved  at  a  velocity  of  seven  thousand  feet  per  minute,  or  about  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  feet  a  second,  which,  during  part  of  the  trials,  attained  120  feet  per  second. 
This  current  raised  short  pieces  of  yellow  pine  board  in  the  air,  and  projected  them 
to  a  distance  of  thirty  feet  from  the  wheel. 

Returning  to  our  fan  example,  if  we  wish  to  reduce  it  to  a  practical  application, 
we  must  either  incase  the  wheel,  so  as  to  collect  the  air  projected  from  its  outer 
portion,  and  conduct  it  to  any  desired  point,  or  cause  those  currents  coming  from 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  153 

some  remote  points  towards  the  fan,  to  course  through  whichever  passages  we  desire 
them  to  dtf,  and  then  finally  to  take  them  into  the  fan  through  trunks  opening  into 
its  sides.  Those  trunks  and  passages  should  never  be  less  in  their  aggregate  area 
than  that  of  the  combined  inlets  to  the  wheel,  and  in  all  cases  an  advantage  will 
accrue  from  making  them  about  one-fourth  larger. 

In  the  event  of  an  external  casing  being  used,  in  which  the  air  is  collected, 
to  be  driven  away  in  a  body  through  the  passages  with  which  the  casing  connects, 
and  under  a  pressure  something  in  excess  of  the  atmospheric  pressure,  a  fan  acting 
under  such  conditions  is  termed  a  blowing  fan. 

If  the  air  is  drawn  through  a  mine  or  series  of  passages,  and  conducted  to  the 
sides  of  a  fan,  the  air  in  those  passages  is  less  in  pressure  than  the  atmospheric  air, 
which  on  this  account  forces  fresh  supplies  into  the  passages,  as  these  are  being 
exhausted  by  the  working  of  the  fan.  This  is  termed  an  exhausting  fan,  and  it  is 
mostly  by  exhaustion  of  the  air  that  ventilation  is  effected  in  coal  mines. 

As  the  air  is  projected  from  the  fan  at  all  points  of  the  circle  alike,  it  is  evident 
that  if  we  put  any  case  or  obstruction  in  the  way  of  those  projected  particles,  we 
neutralize,  to  some  extent,  the  effect  of  the  fan.  Thus,  were  we  to  continue  a  casing 
around  the  wheel  and  quite  close  to  it,  there  would  be  no  action  and  no  air-current; 
the  air  in  the  wheel  would  simply  revolve.  The  same  thing  would  take  place  were 
we  to  close  up  the  sides,  to  prevent  the  flow  of  air  to  the  sides  of  the  wheel.  The 
air  in  the  wheel  in  this  case  would  simply  revolve  in  a  rarefied  condition,  the  extent 
of  rarefaction  depending  on  the  velocity  of  the  wheel;  and  this,  because  no  fresh 
supplies  could  be  obtained  from  the  atmosphere  on  account  of  the  closed  sides. 
Experiments  have  shown,  therefore,  that  in  order  to  get  the  best  results  from  wheels 
of  any  given  size,  the  whole  of  the  sides  (in  case  of  a  double  fan),  as  well  as  the 
annular  outlet,  should  be  left  unobstructed,  and  that  no  part  of  an  outside  casing, 
collecting  the  projected  air,  should  be  nearer  to  the  vanes  than  the  radius  of  the  circle 
described  by  their  extremities  while  revolving. 

As  for  the  sides,  they  should  be  left  fully  open,  the  edges  of  the  trunks  being 
carried  to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  extremities  of  the  wings,  when  the  fan  is  of  the 
exhausting  variety. 

No  exhausting  funnel,  like  the  one  now  used  so  extensively,  should  be  applied, 

20 


154  THE   ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

for  it  effects  no  useful  purpose,  and  it  is  only  used  to  gratify  the  whims  of  those  who 
apply  it.  If  anything  of  this  kind  is  necessary  at  the  outlet  of  a  fan,  it  should  be 
made  in  the  shape  of  a  wind  shield  to  protect  the  projected  air-current  from  the 
action  of  a  strong  wind ;  for,  should  a  strong  wind  blow  against  a  current  of  air 
coming  from  a  fan,  it  is  obvious  that  the  one  will  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  counter- 
acted by  the  other. 

No  less. a  person  than  Mr.  Warington  Smyth,  inspector-general  of  the  English 
mines,  doubts  the  utility  of  the  expanding  funnel  and  fan  case,  both  of  which,  there 
is  no  doubt,  will  in  time  be  dispensed  with,  when  the  action  of  the  fan  has  been  more 
fully  investigated  and  more  satisfactorily  explained.  It  appears  that  it  has  been 
introduced  with  the  Guibal  fan,  which  is  a  machine,  as  far  as  we  know,  that  does  not 
do  any  better  than  any  of  our  commonest  and  much  less  costly  wheels. 

Confining  ourselves  more  strictly  to  the  manner  of  fan  action,  we  will  suppose 
a  wheel  in  rapid  motion,  which  has  four  vanes.  The  air  in  front  of  the  vanes  does 
not  cushion  against  its  flat  surface  in  the  same  manner  that  we  have  shown  it  to  do, 
in  the  case  of  a  flat  body  moving  through  the  air  in  a  right  line.  But  the  air  behind 
the  vane  follows  up  at  the  same  rate  of  speed  as  the  moving  vane  itself.  As  direct 
forces  act  in  right  lines,  the  motion  of  the  air  at  the  extremity  of  the  vanes  is  in  a  right 
line,  or  has  a  tendency  to  move  in  a  right  line,  which  is  tangent  to  the  circle  described 
by  the  extremity  of  the  revolving  vanes.  The  particles  of  air  leaving  the  vane  draw 
on  all  the  particles  or  affect  all  the  particles  forming  the  body  within  that  space, 
bound  by  the  two  adjacent  vanes ;  and  the  entire  mass  of  air,  in  fact,  within  the  entire 
space  in  which  the  fan  revolves,  is  in  a  like  manner  affected,  and  possesses  the  same 
amount  of  rarefaction.  It  would  be  impossible  to  conceive  this  to  be  otherwise,  for  if 
we  put  in  rapid  motion  a  body  of  fluid  of  any  kind  through  a  body  of  the  same  fluid 
at  rest,  it  will  be  clear  that  a  portion  of  the  body  at  rest  will  be  so  influenced  by  the 
action  of  the  moving  body  as  to  take  a  motion  in  the  same  direction.  Now,  as  the 
fan  action  is  as  much  due  to  the  fluid  in  which  it  works,  as  to  the  vanes  for  a  com- 
munication of  motion  to  the  particles  at  rest,  it  can  readily  be  conceived  what  will 
be  the  effect  of  the  air  on  the  outskirts  of  the  vanes,  when  there  is  no  point  of  the 
circle  through  which  a  vane  does  not  pass  several  times  per  second,  and  from  which 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  155 

the  air  is  not  radiating  at  all  points  of  the  circle,  in  lines  tangent  to  those  points,  as 
if  it  were  a  mass  of  fluid  revolving,  and  incessantly  bursting  asunder. 

You  can  well  imagine  what  would  be  the  effect  of  a  mass  of  any  light  substance, 
such  as  flour,  for  instance,  when  ground  to  powder  or  meal,  and  placed  between 
a  pair  of  disks,  and  clamped  just  enough  to  retain  the  mass  between  their  faces,  and 
then  caused  to  revolve  with  a  high  velocity.  The  mass  would  be  driven  out,  as  if 
by  an  explosion.  There  would  be  no  point  in  the  circumference  of  the  disks  that 
would  favor  the  expulsion  of  the  mass  more  in  one  place  than  in  another.  In  case 
of  flour  being  used  to  illustrate  fan  action  in  this  way,  it  would  be  shown  to  form  a 
cloud  of  dust  in  the  air,  of  which  the  disk  would  remain  as  the  centre. 

It  is  about  the  same  with  fan  action  in  the  air,  which,  in  case  of  pure  air,  does 
its  work  in  an  invisible  manner.  If  a  mass  of  smoke  caused  by  the  explosion  of  a 
body  of  powder  or  otherwise,  were  injected  into  the  air-current  going  to  a  fan  built 
according  to  the  manner  we  have  shown,  and  also  in  the  same  proportions,  so  that 
the  air  would  not  be  revolved  uselessly  in  the  wheel,  the  action  of  the  fan  could  be 
made  to  explain  itself  to  any  common-sense  observer. 

If  the  fan  is  at  rest,  the  mass  of  air  contained  in  the  space  through  which  it 
revolves,  will  represent  a  cylindrical  body,  very  similar  to  that  body  of  flour  that  we 
have  supposed  to  be  held  between  the  two  disks.  But  there  being  in  this  instance 
an  unlimited  supply  of  air  ready  at  hand  to  supply  the  place  of  that  thrown  out  by 
the  revolving  of  this  cylinder  of  air,  the  supply  and  projected  currents  resolve  them- 
selves into  two  continuous  streams.  But  in  some  establishments  grain  and  sawdust 
are  moved  through  boxes  which  connect  with  revolving  fans.  Then  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  form  of  vane  best  adapted  to  draw  after  it  a  body  of  air  to  start  it  in 
motion,  is  a  flat  one,  moving  at  right  angles,  as  nearly  as  possible,  to  the  line  of  its 
direction,  and  when  made  of  any  other  form,  it  is  because  of  people's  whims  or  false 
opinions  concerning  the  principles  of  fan  action. 

As  for  the  proportioning  of  horse  power  necessary  to  work  air-currents  through 
fans  and  through  mines,  no  very  definite  conclusions  have  been  arrived  at ;  and 
theoretical  speculations  and  practical  results  have  been  so  much  at  variance  with 
each  other,  that  it  is  not  safe  to  offer  rules  for  the  guidance  of  those  about  to  erect 
fans,  other  than  those  which  have  been  deduced  from  actual  practice.  The  same 


156  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

kind  of  problem  is  to  be  dealt  with  in  this  case  as  that  which  governs  the  movements 
of  floating  bodies  in  water.  A  steamship,  for  instance,  is  a  fair  example  of  a  floating 
body  which,  when  moving  at  a  high  speed  through  the  water,  turns  Dr.  Lardner's 
theory — beautiful  and  correct  in  every  particular  as  far  as  it  goes — upside  down  in 
its  practical  application.  This  is  owing  to  some  practical  advantage  derived  from 
the  force  of  momentum,  as  that  force  accumulated  in  the  steamer  by  the  action  of  her 
engines  at  the  commencement  of  her  voyage,  which  is  never  lost  until  the  steamer  is 
again  brought  to  a  state  of  rest.  As  it  requires  some  time  for  a  steamer  to  be  got  fully 
under  way  by  the  working  of  her  engines  at  full  speed,  so  it  requires  a  long  time  to 
put  in  full  motion  a  body  of  air  in  a  mine,  which  will  in  many  cases  represent  an 
incredible  amount  of  momentum,  if  moved  with  a  high  rate  of  speed  through  the 
passages  of  an  extensive  mine.  This  momentum  will  be  such  as  to  continue  the 
current  of  air  in  motion  for  an  indefinite  time  after  the  stoppage  of  the  ventilating 
force  giving  it  its  primitive  movement.  Taking  all  things  into  consideration,  we 
are  liable  to  underestimate  our  ventilating  forces,  and  by  calculations  made  according 
to  rules  set  forth,  founded  on  the  laws  of  force  and  resistance  as  we  are  taught  them, 
we  would  err,  and  be  very  wide  of  practical  results  on  account,  perhaps,  of  not  being 
able  to  find  out  what  is  due  to  the  momentum  of  the  air-currents  themselves,  after 
they  have  been  once  started  in  motion. 

As  in  the  case  of  marine  engineering,  the  power  required  to  move  certain  masses 
of  air  with  certain  velocities  within  given  times,  must  be  determined  by  a  comparison 
of  actual  results. 

The  power  necessary  to  work  a  ventilating  fan  is  that  which  is  required  to  move 
the  air-current  with  the  required  velocity,  plus  the  friction  of  the  machine.  No  matter 
what  description  of  fan  or  other  machine  is  used  to  give  motion  to  the  air-current,  the 
power  necessary  to  give  the  air-current  motion  will  be  the  same  in  all  cases.  For 
this  reason,  one  fan  or  other  machine  will  be  superior  to  another,  only  when  it  does 
not  consume  so  much  power  uselessly  by  friction.  For  example,  if  a  fan  is  used  to  pro- 
mote a  current  of  air  that  is  eight  times  heavier  than  another,  that  is  doing  the  same 
amount  of  work,  it  will  waste  eight  times  as  much  power  in  friction.  When  fans 
are  cased  up  in  the  manner  in  which  we  so  often  find  them,  with  the  inlets  too  much 
contracted  to  prevent  the  air  from  entering  freely  to  the  wheel  and  the  outlets  closed 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  157 

and  contracted  to  about  one-fourth  of  what  they  should  be,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Guibal 
fan,  and  some  of  its  imitations,  to  do  the  same  amount  of  work  that  a  fan  should  do, 
if  constructed  strictly  in  accordance  with  scientific  principles,  a  machine  about  eight 
times  as  heavy  is  required.  Now,  allowing  a  wheel  like  this  to  promote  the  venti- 
lating current  with  the  same  force,  the  friction  it  causes  will  be  eight  times  as  much 
as  that  caused  by  a  machine  doing  the  same  work,  whose  weight  is  only  the  one- 
eighth  part  of  it.  That  fans  are  made  so  much  at  variance  with  scientific  principles 
is  really  astonishing ;  but  so  far,  the  construction  of  those  machines  has  been  left 
more  in  the  hands  of  the  manufacturer,  who  has  followed  too  closely  in  detail  the 
absurdities  of  the  early  machines. 

For  purposes  of  mine  ventilation,  where  such  immense  volumes  of  air  are  neces- 
sary, the  lightest  and  best  machines  should  be  used  in  all  cases. 

To  prevent  friction,  the  fan-wheel  should  be  made  light,  and  the  diameter  of  the 
journals  and  shaft  as  small  as  possible,  to  be  consistent  with  safety.  The  journals 
should  be  long — not  less  than  three  of  their  diameters — to  prevent  wear  and  tear, 
and  of  steel,  to  give  rigidity ;  and  the  bearings  should  be  set  on  a  solid  cast-iron 
frame,  and  kept  in  perfect  line  with  each  other  ;  and  as  those  mining  fans  are  com- 
paratively large,  the  engines  set  on  the  fan  shaft  may  be  run  fast  enough  to  give  the 
required  speed.  This  saves  the  friction  and  expense  caused  by  the  use  of  belting ; 
and  this  friction  is  considerable,  when  we  take  into  consideration  that  extra  friction  is 
caused  by  an  engine  working  on  a  separate  shaft,  together  with  the  weight  brought 

0 

on  the  bearings  by  the  pressure  of  a  heavy  belt  running  over  the  pulleys.  Then 
there  are  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  belt,  which  form  items  important  enough  to  require 
serious  consideration. 

To  sum  up,  you  will  find  that  those  fans  having  the  largest  inlets  and  outlets 
do  the  most  work,  according  to  their  size,  if  the  proper  width  of  vane  is  provided ; 

That  the  passages  leading  to  a  fan  should  not  be  less  than  one-fourth  in  area 
in  excess  of  the  area  of  the  inlets  leading  to  the  wheel,  and  that  the  inlets  and  outlets 
should  be  equal  in  area  to  each  other ; 

That  the  projectile  force  of  a  fan-wheel  depends  on  the  velocity  of  the  outer 
extremities  of  the  vanes  (it  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  any  obstruction  in  front 


158  THE   ART   OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

of  those  vanes  will  prevent  the  projection  of  air  in  direct  proportion  to  the  area  of 
such  obstruction) ; 

That  to  restore  the  equilibrium  of  the  air  contained  within  the  limits  of  the  fan- 
wheel,  gravitation  forces  air  into  the  partial  vacuum,  in  lines  parallel  with  the  revolv- 
ing shaft,  and  this  motion  of  the  air  will  be  manifested  to  the  outer  extremities  of 
the  vanes,  provided  that  there  is  no  obstruction  placed  in  its  path  (if  there  are  such 
obstructions  made,  then  the  effects  of  the  wheel  will  be  reduced  in  proportion  to  the 
area  of  such  obstruction) ; 

That,  according  to  the  present  general  method  of  construction,  fans  have  such 
obstructions  placed  in  the  path  of  the  air-currents  passing  through  them  by  the 
erroneous  construction  of  their  cases  ; 

That  air-currents  should  not,  if  possible,  be  caused  to  travel  in  any  of  the  main 
passages  of  a  mine  at  a  rate  greater  than  ten  feet  per  second,  and  to  keep  the 
currents  within  moderate  speed  the  air-ways  should  be  made  as  capacious  as 
possible ;  at  all  turnings  of  an  air-trunk  or  passage  the  area  should  be  doubled. 

Where  air-currents  carry  explosive  mixtures,  a  safety  lamp  should  never  be 
exposed  to  their  action  when  they  move  faster  than  six  feet  per  second ;  and  for  this 
reason,  lights  used  near  fans  discharging  such  mixtures  should  be  discarded. 

Concerning  the  high  velocities  of  air-currents  or  air-displacements  caused  by 
fan-wheels,  experiments  have  shown  in  two  remarkable  instances  that  great  force  is 
needed. 

By  repeated  trials  with  the  same  machine,  it  was  found  that  it  required  ninety 
indicated  horse  power  to  displace  400,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute  at  a  velocity 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  per  second,  through  a  passage  of  eight  feet  four 
inches  which  formed  the  inlet  to  an  eight  feet  wheel  open  to  the  air  on  one  side  only. 
Another  wheel,  on  the  same  plan,  displaced  100,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute,  at 
the  rate  of  nearly  sixty  feet  per  second,  through  a  passage  of  six  feet  two  inches  in 
diameter,  with  an  expenditure  of  fifteen  horse  power. 

In  both  instances  the  full  force  of  the  engines  was  required  to  produce  the 
effects  stated  above,  and  the  displacement  was  effected  in  the  open  air. 

In  the  former  instance  the  power  was  obtained  from  an  engine  having  a 
cylinder  of  twenty-five  inches  diameter  and  twenty-one  inches  stroke,  followed  by  a 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  159 

pressure  of  steam  equal  to  forty  pounds  per  square  inch.  The  revolutions  being 
forty-five  per  minute,  the  power  was,  therefore,  about  ninety  horses,  as  shown. 

In  the  second  example  the  cylinder  was  of  eight  inches  diameter  and  twelve 
inches  stroke,  and  being  run  at  the  rate  of  seventy  revolutions  per  minute,  under 
a  pressure  of  seventy  pounds  per  inch,  the  power  developed  approximated  fifteen 
horses. 

The  results  of  these  experiments  tend  to  shake  one's  faith  in  certain  rules 
regarding  the  friction  of  air-currents  or  displacement  of  air.  They  show  that  the 
resistance  to  forces  does  not  increase  as  the  square  of  the  velocity,  and  that  the  power 
necessary  to  promote  air-currents  does  not  increase  as  the  cube  of  the  velocity,  and 
that  certain  statements  made  in  some  of  our  text-books,  concerning  this  particular, 
do  not  accord  with  practical  results,  any  more  than  they  do  in  regard  to  floating 
bodies  moving  rapidly  through  water,  such  for  instance  as  a  large  ocean  steamer. 

One  reason  may  be  advanced  for  this  apparent  variance.  For  example,  a  fan 
is  set  to  work  at  a  certain  point.  At  its  commencement  it  affects  the  particles  of  air 
in  close  contact  with  the  space  within  which  it  revolves,  and  motion  is  communicated 
gradually  to  air,  at  points  more  remote.  Thus  a  particle  of  air  at  some  remote  place 
is  acted  on  and  begins  its  motion  towards  the  fan  at  the  lowest  conceivable  rate.  As 
it  approaches  the  fan  its  motion  becomes  accelerated.  By  the  time  it  has  arrived  at 
the  point  where  the  rarefaction  is  greatest,  which  is  within  the  space  in  which  the 
fan  is  revolving,  it  is  invested  with  its  full  motion,  and  possesses  a  certain  amount  of 
momentum  which  has  been  imparted  to  it,  in  a  manner  so  gradual  as  not  to  have 
affected  the  machine  in  the  same  way  that  it  would  have  done  had  the  motion  been 
given  to  it  suddenly.  The  motion  of  the  infinite  number  of  particles  which  compose 
the  current  when  collected  together  to  enter  the  fan-wheel,  thus  represents  a  momen- 
tum very  similar  to  that  of  the  fly-wheel  of  a  steam  engine  when  running  at  full 
speed.  Were  the  fan-wheel  stopped  after  a  high  velocity  had  been  given  to  an  air- 
current,  the  current  would  continue  in  motion,  like  the  fly-wheel  of  a  steam  engine 
after  the  steam  is  shut  off,  until  brought  to  rest  by  external  causes. 

Although  we  do  not  intend  to  enter  fully  or  scientifically  into  the  subject  here, 
enough  has  been  said  to  explain  the  mystery  of  the  paradox  to  any  one  having  a 
correct  knowledge  of  mechanics  as  a  science. 


160  THE    ART   OF   MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

Therefore,  it  must  be  said,  in  conclusion,  that  the  momentum  of  an  air-current 
has  much  to  do  with  the  power  that  gives  it  motion,  and  acts  in  the  same  manner  or 
on  the  same  principle  that  a  steamship  does  in  the  displacement  of  water  lying  in 
its  path. 

Thus,  a  steamer  having  an  immersed  cross  section  of  900  square  feet,  when  run- 
ning at  fourteen  knots  an  hour  through  the  water,  will  be  resisted  by  a  force  of  not  less 
than  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons  in  the  face  of  the  finest  ends  that  can  be  made  to 
push  the  water  aside  in  front  as  slowly  as  possible,  and  to  allow  it  to  flow  into  the 
vacancy  constantly  forming  at  the  vessel's  stern,  as  rapidly  as  those  lines  astern  can  be 
made  to  admit  of  such  a  desirable  end,  and  prevent  that  drag  which  retards  the  pro- 
gress of  a  vessel  as  much  as  does  the  displacement  in  advance  of  it.  But  in  this 
case,  although  the  push  of  the  engines  does  not  exceed,  in  many  cases,  the  one- 
twentieth  part  of  the  resistance,  the  immense  force  accumulated  in  the  vessel,  in  the 
shape  of  momentum,  when  taken  into  consideration,  is  sufficient  to  solve  the  riddle, 
and  account  for  the  errors  made  by  Dr.  Lardner  in  regard  to  this  very  subject. 

At  Usworth  Colliery,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  England,  a  fan  of  forty-five 
feet  in  diameter  is  worked  by  a  pair  of  engines,  whose  cylinders  are  each  thirty-six 
inches  in  diameter  by  as  many  in  length  of  stroke. 

There  are  several  fans  in  Pennsylvania  where,  when  the  diameter  of  the  fanner 
is  eighteen  feet,  the  diameter  of  the  cylinder  on  the  main  shaft  is  of  as  many  inches, 
and  length  of  stroke  varying.  But  no  reliable  data  have  been  furnished  by  the  work- 
ing of  any  of  them  that  is  sufficiently  correct  for  insertion  here ;  therefore,  further 
particulars  are  not  necessary. 

There  seems  to  be  one  error,  very  popularly  entertained,  concerning  the  working 
of  the  fan  which  must  be  pointed  out  before  we  leave  this  subject,  as  it  seems  to 
lead  people  astray  when  planning  and  constructing  them-  for  purposes  of  ventilation. 
It  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of  some  that  if  the  air  is  revolved  to  a  certain  point,  it  will 
be  thrown  off  with  greater  vigor  at  this  point,  on  account  of  having  by  the  action  of 
the  fan  received  an  accelerated  motion.  This  can  never  be  so,  where  the  air-passages 
are  sufficiently  large  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  air  to  the  fan  as  fast  as  it  can  be  pro- 
jected. The  moment  the  air  is  inside  of  the  fan  space,  it  revolves  as  fast  as  the  fan 
is  driven,  and  if  it  were  revolved  till  doomsday,  it  would  never  increase  in  speed,  but 


THE   VENTILATING   FAN.  161 

would  revolve  with  the  fan,  as  if  it  were  a  component  part  of  the  machine,  provided 
that  the  means  of  escape  were  shut  off,  or  the  means  of  ingress  were  closed.  But  the 
passages  being  free,  the  air  passes  off  in  a  stream  taugentwise,  without  following  the 
direction  of  a  vane  a  point  farther  than  that  which  leads  it  out  to  the  vane's  extremities. 
When  the  passages  are  too  small,  however,  this  will  not  be  the  case ;  because, 
on  account  of  the  air  being  inadequately  supplied  to  a  good  fan,  it  will  not 
only  be  made  to  revolve  uselessly  in  the  fan-wheel,  but  be  caused  to  revolve  by 
contact  before  it  can  enter  the  fan.  This  is  caused  by  the  drag  occasioned  by  repeated 
contractions  of  the  air-passages.  When  these  cannot  be  enlarged,  then  in  order  to 
save  power,  the  next  best  thing  to  be  done  is  to  reduce  the  inlet  and  outlet  of  the 
fan  to  correspond  with  such  contractions  of  air-passage. 

It  may  be  asked,  How  it  is  that  the  fan  working  as  it  does  within  a  space,  to  rarefy 
the  air,  throws  its  load  off  into  an  atmosphere  where  the  pressure  is  somewhat  in 
excess  of  the  air  entering  the  fans  ?  In  many  cases,  the  weight  of  the  external  air 
is  one-sixteenth  greater  bulk  for  bulk  than  the  air  coming  up  to  the  fan,  and  nothing 
is  added  by  any  power  of  compression  to  the  air's  density,  after  it  enters  the  fan- 
wheel. 

To  satisfy  yourself  on  this  point,  take  a  piece  of  cork,  and  throw  it  into  a  body 
of  still  water.  By  its  projectile  force  it  will  be  driven  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 
This  reduces  the  principle  of  fan-action  to  this :  That  the  velocity  and  weight  of  the 
air  in  the  fan,  together,  exceed  the  atmospheric  pressure  so  much  as  to  cause  its 
displacement. 


21 


162  THE    ART    OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

UNDERGROUND  FIRES,  AND  METHODS  OF  EXTINGUISHING  THEM. 

FIRES  have  frequently  been  started  in  coal  mines  by  various  causes.  The 
mines  mostly  subject  to  fires  are  those  which  contain  large  amounts  of  combustible 
gas.  A  stream  of  gas  coming  from  a  wall  of  coal  has  been  lighted  up  by  an  explo- 
sion, and  having  been  left  to  burn  by  the  men,  who  have  retreated  to  get  out  of 
harm's  way,  has  got  so  far  ahead  as  to  defy  all  efforts  made  to  extinguish  it. 

Before  a  fire  is  spread  to  any  considerable  extent,  it  may  easily  be  put  out  by 
shutting  off  the  air.  In  this  case  great  judgment  is  required  in  order  to  perform  it 
in  a  proper  manner.  Space  must  be  left  between  the  batteries  and  the  fire,  to  allow 
the  gases  to  circulate  and  distribute  the  heat  generated  at  the  seat  of  the  fire ;  because 
soon  after  the  stopping  off  of  the  air  is  accomplished,  the  air  within  the  inclosed 
space  will  become  so  mixed  up  with  gas  as  to  be  incapable  of  supporting  combustion. 
This  gaseous  mixture  will  none  the  less  circulate  throughout  the  space,  and  the  effect 
of  the  circulation  will  be  to  distribute  the  heat,  and  divide  it  among  all  the  surfaces 
of  the  inclosed  space.  After  this  is  accomplished,  it  is  very  likely  that  the  fire  will 
be  extinguished.  Where  such  fires  have  been  closed  up  for  a  space  of  three  months, 
it  has  been  found  that  they  were  completely  extinguished.  But  it  is  a  dangerous 
operation  to  open  out  such  a  space,  if  there  exists  any  spark  of  fire,  or  any  heat  so 
great  as  to  start  up  a  conflagration  as  soon  as  a  circulation  of  fresh  air  takes  place. 
It  is  not  only  a  fire  which  has  broken  out  at  the  opening  out  of  such  places,  but 
in  one  instance,  at  Laffak  Colliery,  Lancashire,  England,  where  the  stoppings  were 
opened  which  tapped  a  space  in  which  there  had  been  a  fire,  an  explosion  took  place 
of  a  terrific  nature.  The  two  officers  of  the  mine,  who  opened  the  space,  were 
literally  roasted  alive. 

The  composition  of  a  gaseous  mixture  forming  in  such  an  inclosed  space  can 
better  be  imagined  than  accurately  described.  After  a  certain  time  the  air  within 
the  space  will  cease  to  give  out  any  more  of  its  oxygen  to  the  fire,  and  the  spare 


UNDERGROUND   FIRES.  163 

will  then  be  filled  with  a  mixture  which  may  be  supposed  to  be  largely  made  up  of 
carbonic  acid,  and,  not  unlikely,  with  carburetted  hydrogen  also.  How  such  a  mass 
coming  out  into  the  fresh  air  will  deport  itself  in  the  presence  of  a  safety  lamp  it  is 
difficult  to  say.  Such  masses  should  be  let  out  gradually  by  the  opening  of  small  holes 
through  the  stoppings,  or  if  no  more  than  one  stopping  be  used,  one  hole  made  at  the 
bottom  and  another  at  the  top  of  it,  would  in  a  day  or  two  allow  the  gases  inclosed 
within  the  space  to  exchange  volumes  with  the  air  on  the  outside.  This  was  done 
at  a  colliery  near  St.  Helen's,  Lancashire.  The  fire  had  been  closed  up  during  three 
months  before  small  holes  were  made  through  two  of  the  stoppings.  This  allowed 
an  exchange  to  take  place  between  the  air  of  the  mine  and  the  gases  of  the  inclosed 
space ;  but  this  was  done  in  a  manner  so  gradual,  that  no  danger  or  inconvenience 
from  the  gaseous  mixtures  was  encountered.  When,  at  the  end  of  two  weeks  after 
the  first  small  openings  were  made  when  the  stoppings  were  taken  down,  it  was 
found  that  the  fire  was  not  only  out,  but  the  place  was  cool  enough  to  be  entered 
and  reopened  to  the  workmen. 

But  the  method  would  fail  in  the  hands  of  any  one,  unless  due  regard  were 
paid  to  the  manner  of  arranging  the  stoppings,  so  as  to  allow  of  a  certain  amount  of 
space  for  the  circulation  of  the  inclosed  air  and  gases ;  and  the  time  of  its  being 
closed  up  would  need  to  be  proportioned  to  the  time  of  burning  and  other  circum- 
stances connected  with  that  of  the  fire. 

In  case  of  fires  breaking  out  in  any  mine  that  is  open  or  owing  to  the  seams 
cropping  out  to  the  surface,  the  shutting  off  of  the  air  is  not  so  easily  accomplished. 
There  is  reason  to  think  that  in  shallow  mines  where  a  large  fire  is  burning,  by  reason 
of  the  caving  of  the  roof  into  the  vacancy  made  by  the  fire  as  the  coal  is  being  con- 
sumed, connection  is  made  with  the  surface  through  crevices  which  supply  air  to  the 
burning  masses. 

If  the  fire  is  very  extensive,  as  it  will  be  if  the  coal  seam  is  large,  and  if  the  fire 
has  been  in  progress  a  considerable  length  of  time,  in  order  to  confine  it  within 
certain  limits,  the  coal  should  be  mined  out  as  speedily  as  possible  around  the  pillar 
in  which  the  fire  is  operating.  When  thus  isolated  by  a  breach  in  the  strata,  which 
the  mining  should  be  made  to  form,  the  fire  cannot  extend  further  than  the  fallen 
masses.  But  when  this  is  the  case,  the  large  amount  of  gas  formed  by  the  fire  must 


164  THE    ART   OF    MINING    COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

be  allowed  to  escape  to  the  surface ;  and  if  the  ventilating  currents  are  properly 
stopped  off  from  the  burning  district,  there  will  be  no  danger  encountered  by  working 
in  the  other  portions  of  the  mine. 

Water  has  been  run  into  mines,  and  fires  have  been  successfully  extinguished 
through  its  agency ;  and  where  the  mines  are  below  water  level,  and  water  is 
convenient,  it  must  be  the  most  reliable  and  speedy  of  any  method  known. 

By  the  forcing  in  of  gas,  or  a  mixture  of  gas  and  vapor  and  air  so  as  to  form 
a  mass  that  is  not  capable  of  supporting  combustion,  a  fire  may  be  extinguished  at 
once.  But  a  large  body  of  the  gaseous  mixture  is  required  to  be  .kept  in  constant 
circulation  past  the  seat  of  the  fire,  for  several  months  together,  and  without  any 
intermission ;  because,  on  account  of  the  heat  occasioned  by  the  fire,  which  heat  must 
be  literally  carried  out  of  the  mine  by  the  current  of  gas,  the  gas  must  be  kept  in 
circulation  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  reduce  the  heat  so  much  below  the  point 
of  combustion  that  there  will  be  no  possibility  of  the  fire  re-commencing  as  soon  as 
the  fresh  air  is  admitted  to  the  mine. 

Gas  may  be  made  very  cheaply  for  this  purpose  by  the  combustion  of  coal 
refuse.  If  furnaces  were  erected  at  once  at  the  mouth  of  a  mine,  and  a  few  boilers 
laid  over  these,  steam  could  be  raised  to  work  an  engine  and  fan.  The  fan  used  to 
force  air  through  the  furnaces  under  a  pressure  of  about  three  inches  of  water,  would 
force  the  gas  of  the  furnaces  and  steam  of  the  engine  through  the  mine,  under  a 
pressure  sufficient  to  prevent  the  influx  of  air  at  any  other  point ;  provided  that 
all  other  openings  were  so  reduced  in  area  as  to  cause  the  streams  of  escaping  gas  to 
be  driven  out  of  the  mine  under  a  pressure  of  two  or  three  inches  of  water,  or 
a  pressure  above  that  of  the  external  air. 

The  cooling  of  the  gas  will  be  most  easily  effected  if  it  should  be  forced  through 
a  body  of  water  in  a  tank,  or  in  a  dam  made  near  the  entrance  of  the  mine.  The 
hot  gases  passing  through  a  body  of  water  or  through  a  cloud  of  spray  would,  in 
cooling,  evaporate  a  certain  amount  of  this  water  or  spray  and  mingling  with  it  would 
form  a  mass  incapable  of  supporting  combustion.  If  forced  past  the  fire,  the  heat 
would  be  carried  off  by  convection.  Provision  to  carry  the  current  to  the  required 
point  should  be  made  previously  to  turning  on  the  stream  of  gas,  which  should  not 
be  allowed  to  cease  until  the  fire  is  extinguished.  The  condition  of  the  mine  could 


UNDERGROUND    FIRES.  165 

be  judged  of  by  the  daily  application  of  thermometers  to  the  escaping  currents  of 
gases. 

Except  that  gas  could  be  generated  by  the  burning  of  refuse  coal,  it  could  not 
be  produced  by  other  means  in  sufficient  quantity  to  perform  the  double  office  of 
extinguishing  the  fire  and  reducing  the  heat. 

In  many  cases  the  steam-boilers  and  furnaces  of  a  colliery  may  be  employed  to 
perform  the  above-named  duty,  and  the  ventilating  fan  of  the  mine  may  also  be  made 
to  force  the  gases  into  the  fire. 

When  a  fire  started  by  a  stream  of  gas  coming  from  a  crevice  has  burnt  long 
enough  to  cause  great  heat,  carbonic  oxide  gas  is  generated.  When  this  gas  is 
present,  a  fire  burning  at  the  crevice  may  have  been  dashed  out  completely ;  but  if  a 
certain  amount  of  heat  is  spread  about  the  locality,  and  fresh  air  is  allowed  to  mingle 
with  the  carbonic  oxide,  an  explosion  will  by  their  contact  ensue ;  and  you  will  see 
repetitions  of  the  phenomenon  at  the  top  of  a  heating  or  puddling  furnace  in  a 
rolling  mill,  when  such  furnace  is  in  full  blast.  This  gas  seems  to  require  nothing  more 
than  heat  and  fresh  air  (without  flame),  to  start  a  conflagration.  Who  knows  that  this 
gas  has  not  been  the  cause  of  serious  mischief  in  mines  by  being  generated  from 
coal  dust  burning  within  the  wire  cylinder  gauze  of  a  safety-lamp  1  Are  not  there 
cases  in  which  this  gas,  when  made  by  the  burning  of  a  lamp,  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  igniting  an  explosive  body  on  the  outside  of  the  lamp's  gauze  ? 

What  of  the  accident  at  Avondale,  Pa.,  where  a  body  of  heated  gas  came  off  a 
furnace,  and  ascended  a  shaft  to  a  drift  through  which  fresh  air  could  have  been 
admitted]  We  know  that  the  result  was  an  explosion,  followed  by  a  conflagration, 
and  its  fatal  consequences  ! 


166  THE   ART    OF    MINING    COAL   DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

A  GENERAL  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COAL  VEINS  WORKED  AT  ELLENWOOD  COLLIERY,  SITUATED  IN 

THE  SOUTHEASTERN  BRANCH  OF  THE  MAHANOY  COAL  BASIN,  GIVEN  TO  SHOW  THE 

GREAT  NATURAL  RESOURCES  OF  THE  ANTHRACITE  COAL  FIELDS. 

AT  a  point  southwest  of  Ashland,  on  the  flank  of  the  Mahanoy  Mountain, 
where  the  coal  strata  come  up  to  the  surface  inclining  from  the  horizon  at  the  rate 
of  50°,  they  are  interrupted  by  the  formation  of  an  anticlinal  dip.  From  this  point 
an  anticlinal  axis  starts  to  the  eastward,  and  its  main  centre  runs  about  two  and  a  half 
points  of  the  compass  to  the  north,  while  the  main  anticlinal  axis  of  the  Mahanoy 
Mountain  runs  about  one  point  south  of  east.  About  four  miles  to  the  eastward, 
the  anticlinal  axis  which  starts  out  from  the  point  specified  above,  has  carried  away 
with  it  so  much  of  the  strata  as  to  form  the  Bear  Ridge  Mountain.  But  from  the 
same  point  of  departure  of  the  anticlinal  axis,  a  synclinal  axis  also  starts  out,  whose 
general  direction  is  nearly  one  point  to  the  north  of  east.  This  synclinal  axis  forms 
the  southeastern  limit  of  the  Mahanoy  Coal  Basin,  and  it  forms  a  small  basin  of  a 
dozen  miles  in  length,  whose  breadth  at  Mahanoy  City  is  not  less  than  three-quarters 
of  a  mile.  It  is  in  this  valley  that  the  town  of  Mahanoy  City  is  built,  and  the  valley 
carries  a  branch  of  the  Mahanoy  Creek,  which  drains  the  water  from  the  adjacent 
mountains,  which  are  the  Mahanoy  to  the  south,  and  the  Bear  Ridge,  or  one  of  its 
projecting  arms,  to  the  north,  whose  ridges  rise  a  few  hundred  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  valley. 

The  coal  seams  below  the  Mammoth,  as  well  as  the  Mammoth  itself,  crop  out 
above  the  level  of  the  creek,  one  after  the  other  in  the  same  order  in  which  they  lie 
in  the  strata;  and  they  rise  to  their  out-crops  at  high  angles  of  inclination,  beginning 
at  zero  in  the  centre  of  the  basin,  and  bending  upwards  gradiially  at  first,  as  we  may 
reasonably  suppose  from  visible  indications,  until  they  assume  the  high  angle  of 
"  dip"  by  which  they  present  themselves  to  the  light  of  day ;  60°  being  the  north 
dip  and  about  40°  the  south. 


GENERAL    DESCRIPTION    OF   COAL   VEINS   WORKED    AT    ELLEN  WOOD    COLLIERY.         167 

In  spite  of  the  immense  forces  to  which  the  strata  have  been  subjected  in  order 
to  bend  them  into  the  U  shape  in  which  they  are  now  found,  the  coal  veins  are  in  a 
fair  condition,  with  their  roofs  and  floors  in  tolerable  conformity  with  each  other. 

As  a  specimen  of  one  of  the  collieries  worked  in  the  Mahanoy  Basin,  we  have 
selected  the  Ellenwood  only  for  the  purpose  of  giving  an  example  of  the  natural 
resources  of  the  basin  in  respect  to  the  coal  seams. 

Breaking  ground  on  the  flank  of  the  Bear  Ridge  Mountain,  which  forms  the 
northern  limit  of  this  branch  of  the  basin,  we  have  at  this  point  a  thin  coal  seam 
opened,  the  Skidmore,  which  lies  under  the  Mammoth  Vein  at  a  distance  of  from 
twenty  to  twenty-four  feet.  At  present  this  seam  of  coal  is  not  considered  workable 
on  account  of  its  being  mixed  with  impurities ;  but  as  it  dips  in  perfect  conformity 
with  the  strata  inclosing  it,  its  course  is  followed  to  the  south  by  a  sloping  shaft  to  a 
depth  of  about  seven  hundred  feet  on  an  incline  varying  from  30°  to  45°. 

By  excavating  in  the  seam  of  coal  to  a  sufficient  width,  and  by  blasting  down 
the  roof  in  one  place  and  the  bottom  or  floor  up  in  another,  a  height  and  width 
have  been  made  sufficiently  large  for  the  working  of  the  slope  wagons,  which  carry 
upwards  of  two  and  a  half  tons  of  coal  when  properly  loaded.  Besides  there  is  room 
made  on  one  side  of  the  slope  for  the  pump  used  to  drain  the  mines,  one  of  Joseph 
Allison's  double  plunger  steam  cataract  variety. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  slope  a  short  tunnel  opens  a  road  to  the  Mammoth  Vein, 
or  at  least  to  the  under  portion  of  it,  as  at  this  point  the  conglomeration  of  veins, 
usually  known  as  the  Mammoth  farther  to  the  westward,  is  separated  into  two 
distinct  veins,-  each  of  which  is  worked  by  independent  mining  operations. 

At  the  point  where  the  tunnel  mentioned  above  intersects  the  vein,  the  main  roads 
or  gangways  branch  off,  one  being  driven  to  the  east,  the  other  to  the  west.  In  this 
under  portion  of  the  Mammoth  a  breast  of  coal  shows  us  a  very  beautiful  section 
which  measures  in  thickness  twelve  feet  in  some  places  to  sixteen  feet  in  others,  and 
is  divided  into  three  well-defined  benches.  The  slates  dividing  the  benches,  together 
with  the  streaks  of  "  bone  coal"  or  "  splints"  and  sulphurets,  do  not  possess  more 
than  eight  per  cent,  of  the  vein's  space,  ninety-two  per  cent,  being  coal  of  the  best 
quality  of  anthracite,  which  is  so  compact,  that  when  two  pieces  are  struck  against 
each  other,  they  emit  a  metallic  sound. 


168  THE   ART   OF    MINING   COAL    DESCRIBED    AND    ILLUSTRATED. 

From  the  line  of  gangway  driven  in  this  under  part  of  the  vein,  tunnels  are 
driven  through  the  slate  which  separates  the  upper  part  of  the  seam  from  the  lower. 
This  section  of  the  vein  gives  us  in  thickness  of  coal  about  twenty  feet.  The  body 
of  slate  which  divides  the  Mammoth  Vein  is  here  about  fifty  feet  thick,  and  it  forms 
the  roof  of  the  under  portion  of  the  seam,  and  the  floor  of  the  upper  part  of  it.  As 
the  coal  is  worked  out  according  to  the  popular  method  of  getting  coal  in  the  Schuyl- 
kill  region,  which  has  been  already  fully  described  in  detail  in  former  chapters  of 
this  work,  we  need  only  refer  for  details  to  Plates  XIX.  to  XXIV.  Putting  the 
two  parts  of  the  vein  together,  we  have  a  mass  of  coal,  the  magnificence  of  which 
must  excite  the  admiration  of  any  one  who  has  not  become  familiar  with  the  coal 
measures  of  this  part  of  the  world.  But  this  is  not  all  of  the  coal  which  is  worked 
at  this  colliery !  Leaving  what  may  be  above  the  Mammoth  in  the  Primrose  and 
other  veins  which  are  not  opened  or  worked  here,  by  tunnelling  north  through 
the  strata  two  more  workable  veins  are  cut,  the  first  of  which  varies  in  thickness 
from  seven  to  nine  feet ;  while  the  second  is  the  Buck  Mountain,  whose  thickness 
averages  about  sixteen  feet.  In  all  there  are  masses  of  coal  opened  whose  aggre- 
gate thickness  amounts  to  sixty  feet. 

There  is  an  old  rule,  which  has  been  much  used  by  coal  mining  engineers  in 
estimating  the  value  of  coal  lands,  which  if  applied  to  the  coal  lands  composing 
this  Mahanoy  Valley,  would  place  them  at  a  high  standard.  This  rule  allows  one 
thousand  tons  of  coal  per  acre  for  each  foot  in  thickness  contained  in  the  ground. 
This,  in  the  English  and  other  European  coal  fields,  makes  ample  allowance  for 
waste  produce,  and  for  the  faulty  portions  of  a  mine's  property.  Then,  at  this  rate, 
there  must  be  not  less  than  between  fifty  and  sixty  thousand  tons  of  coal  to  each 
acre  measured  on  the  inclined  planes  of  the  coal  strata.  Of  course  this  large  amount 
of  coal  is  within  that  portion  of  the  basin  bound  by  the  out-crops  of  the  Mammoth 
Vein.  But  the  out-crops  of  the  underlying  veins  run  farther  up  the  mountain  sides, 
and  in  consequence  of  this,  their  area  is  extended  in  a  ratio  to  correspond. 

The  above  description  has  been  obtained  from  a  personal  inspection  of  the  veins 
being  worked  at  the  Ellen  wood  Colliery;  and  this  colliery  has  been  selected  at 
random  from  about  fifty  which  are  in  the  Mahanoy  Basin,  the  majority  being  worked 


GENERAL   DESCRIPTION    OF   COAL   VEINS    WORKED    AT    ELLENWOOD    COLLIERY.         169 

by  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  which  is  without  excep- 
tion and  by  far  the  most  extensive  coal  mining  company  in  the  world. 

The  coal  lands  in  the  possession  of  this  company,  some  of  which  are  owned 
entirely,  others  partially,  while  others  are  leased  by  this  company,  are  so  vast  as  to 
warrant  a  heavy  freightage  for  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad,  a  sister  corpo- 
ration, for  a  century  to  come;  and  on  this  account  this  road  can  never  be  rivalled  in 
the  carrying  of  coal  as  long  as  it  holds  on  to  a  controlling  interest  in  the  mining  of 
it.  It  was  by  a  master-stroke  of  policy  that  Franklin  B.  Gowen  conceived  the  idea 
of  organizing  this  coal  company,  which  has  become,  by  dint  of  his  perseverance 
and  much  hard  mental  labor,  embodied  into  such  vast  proportions. 

A  branch  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad  threads  its  way  among  the 
valleys  of  the  Mahanoy  Basin,  and  gathers  from  the  mines  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  tons  of  coal  daily.  This  amount  of  coal  finds  its  chief  outlets  over  the 
inclined  planes  at  Gordon,  which  run  up  the  slopes  of  the  Broad  Mountain,  and 
over  the  Mahanoy  planes  near  Mahanoy  City,  and  by  way  of  the  tunnel  through 
the  Mahanoy  Ridge  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  basin.  Most  of  the  coal  is 
carried  by  the  main  line  to  Philadelphia,  and  it  forms  only  a  portion  of  the  whole 
of  the  coal  carried  by  this  company. 

The  Northern  Central  Railway,  a  branch  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  taps  the 
Mahanoy  Basin  at  its  western  extremities,  and  carries  much  of  the  basin's  produce 
to  the  Baltimore  markets,  and  a  branch  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  enters  by 
mountain  passes  at  a  northeastern  point  and  carries  away  daily  out  of  its  valleys 
several  thousands  of  tons. 


23 


INDEX. 


Abandoned  excavations,  examination  of  air  in,  12 
Accidents  in  mines,  prevalence  of,  in  early  times,  82,  83 

means  to  be  used  as  safeguards  against,  9-13 
Air  and  gases,  expansion  of,  82 
Air  courses,  driving,  13 

should  be  straight  and  direct,  13 
Air  crossing,  12,  63 

in  ventilation,  39 
Air  crossings,  36 

driving  in  solid  strata,  23 
Air  currents,  velocity  of,  experiments  with,  152 
Air  doors,  13 

worked  by  gravity,  63 

Air  in  abandoned  excavations,  examination  of,  12 
Air,  splitting  the,  36 
Air  stoppings,  13,  36 
Air-way,  spacious,  12 
America,  mining  in,  59 

want  of  experienced  miners  in,  75 

waste  of  coal  in,  74,  75 
Anemometer,  the,  43,  45 
Angel  of  death  in  the  air  in  mines,  13 
Ashland,  Pa.,  colliery  at,  166 
Avondale,  Pa.,  explosion  at,  165 

Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  144 

Battery  and  loading  platform,  104,  105 

Battery  collar,  105 

Bear  Ridge,  166,  167,  169 

Belgium,  mines  of,  59 

Bell,  Isaac  Lowthian,  59 

Blackboard,  putter's,  65 

the  deputy's,  48 
Black  Fell  colliery,  78 
Blasting  coal,  107,  108 

Board  and  pillar  and  long  wall  systems  of  mining 
compared.  142-147 


Board  and  pillar  system  of  mining,  60 

system  of  mining  out  coal  by,  33-88 
some  advantages  in.  74 
with  experienced  miners,  74.  75 

whole  coal  working,  plan  of,  36 

workings,  ideal  plan  of,  37 
Board  and  wall  system  of  working,  37 
Board  room,  interior  view  of  a,  88 
"  Board-ways,"  37 
Boards  and  ends  of  coal,  36-41 
Bore  holes  in  testing  for  gas  in  mining,  12 
Bosses  in  coal  mines,  26,  27 
Bottom  rock,  gutters  in,  advantages  of,  128-131 
Buck  Mountain  vein,  90 
Buddie,  John,  improvements  in  ventilation,  83 
Brattice  in  an  opening  schute,  effect  of,  in  ventilating, 

21-23 

Brattice  in  Europe  since  the  time  of  Speeding,  23 
Breast  of  a  mine,  106 
Breast-rooms,  104 

and  pillars  of  a  mine,  103,  104 
Breasts  in  the  Mammoth  vein,  working,  113-119 
Broken  coal  worked,  63-70 

working  in  the,  76 
Broken  workings,  details  of,  71,  72 
Brushing  out  the  gas  in  a  mine,  21 

Cages  used  in  a  Newcastle  shaft,  33,  34 

"  Calling  course,"  85 

Carburetted  hydrogen,  detecting  in  the  air.  13 

Centrifugal  fun,  150 

Cleavage  of  coal,  137 

or  '•  grain"  of  coal,  115 
Coal,  broken,  worked,  63-70 

cleavage  of,  37 

deposits,  98-101 

(171) 


172 


INDEX. 


Coal-dust  and  coal-gas  in  the  air,  a  dangerous  mix- 
ture, 14-16 

Coal  formations,  98-101 

from  the  highly  inclining  coal  veins  of  the  United 
States,  how  taken,  89-147 

Coal-gas  and  coal-dust  in  the  air,  a  dangerous  mix- 
ture, 14-16 

Coal,  immense  waste  of  in  America,  74,  75 

Coal  lands  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Coal  and 
Iron  Co.,  166-169 

Coal  mined,  its  relation  to  the  ventilation  of  a  mine, 
importance  of,  28 

Coal  miner  and  his  work,  54-57 

Coal  mines  and  coal  miners,  general  information  con- 
cerning, with  description  of  long  wall  as  worked  in 
horizontal  seams  of  coal  in  England  and  France, 
9-32 

Coal  mines  as  worked  in  the  thick  coal  measures,  plan 
of,  103,  104 

Coal-mining  engineers,  24 

in  France  by  Remblais,  29 

Coal  seam,  rule  for  the  yield  of  per  acre,  29 

Coal  seams  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field,  33 
of  Staffordshire,  England,  29 
thick,  29-32 

Coal  veins  at  Ellen  wood,  166 

highly  inclining,  89-147 
in  France,  29 

Colliery  near  Mahanoy  City,  Pa.,  described,  166-169 

Comparison  of  the  different  systems  of  mining,  142-147 

Comparisons  and  remarks,  73-77 

Continental  mining,  lessons  to  be  derived  from,  59 

Conversation  on  the  principles  of  ventilation,  120 

Conversations  with  miners,  90-96 

Cooper  and  Hewitt,  60 

Cooper,  Peter,  60 

Corf,  81 

Crawslmy,  Mr.,  60 

Creep,  bringing  on  a,  73,  74 

"  Creep,"  keeping  off  a,  80 

Creeping  down  of  the  roof  of  a  mine,  73,  74 
in  of  the  bottom  slate,  76 

Crossing  the  metal  ridges  of  the  board  rooms,  76 

Currents  of  air  in  mines,  83 

Death,  angel  of,  in  the  air  of  mines,  13 
Deputy,  the,  45 
Deputy's  experience,  a,  42-46 
Derbyshire,  long  wall  of,  60 


Details  in  working  and  ventilating  a  district,  42-46 

of  broken  workings,  71,  72 
District  and  panel  workings,  36-41 

details  of  working,  36-41 
Dividing  the  ventilating  current,  12 
Drawing  of  a  jud,  67,  68 

out  the  props,  67 
Drift,  mouth  of,  102 
Drilling  coal,  109,  110 
Drill,  the,  106,  107 
Driving  a  breast,  113-119 

Early  collieries,  reworking,  78 

Ellenwood  Colliery,  Mahanoy  City,  Pa.,  description 

of,  166-169 
"  Endways."  37 
Engine  bank,  61 
Engineer,  the  educated,  a  necessity  for,  in  coal  mining, 

27 

England,  fan  in  use  in,  160 
English  coal  measures,  shaft  through,  33-35 

mines,  early  ventilation  in,  83 

mining,  changes  in,  60 
Examination  of  breasts,  134-141 
Excavations,  abandoned,  examination  of  air  in,  12 
Experience  of  a  doputy,  42-46 
Experiment  with  marsh  gas,  17-19 
Explosion  and  early  reminiscences  regarding,  9-11 

at  Avondale,  Pa.,  165 

in  Springwell  Colliery,  9-13 
Extinguishing  underground  fires,  162-165 

Fan  action,  manner  of,  154-157 

at  Usworth  Colliery,  160 

boys,  20 

dispensing  with,  20 
Fan  wheel,  operation  of,  151 
Fans  in  use  in  Pennsylvania,  160 
Fatfield  Colliery,  78 
Field,  Cyrus  \V.,  60 
Fire  at  Laffak  Colliery,  162 
Fires  underground,  extinguishing,  162-165 
Flange  of  the  rail  and  of  the  wheel  of  the  railway 

wagon,  82 

Flint  mill  in  mines,  82 
France,  coal  veins  of,  29 

mines  of,  59 

mining  in,  by  Remblais,  143 

working  thick,  highly  inclining  coal  beds  in.  80 


INDEX. 


173 


French  system  of  mining,  safety  in,  143 
Friction  of  fans,  prevention  of,  157 
Furnaces  for  ventilation,  early,  83 
Furnace,  ventilating,  82,  149 

Gangway  timbers,  91,  92 

Gangways,  104 

Gas  and  air,  expansion  of,  82 

Gas,  extinguishment  of  fires  in  collieries  by,  164,  165 
in  a  coal  mine,  causes  of  accumulation  of,  42 
watching  the  accumulation  of,  42-44 

Gas,  testing  for  by  bore  holes  in  mining,  12 

Gases,  absence  of  a  knowledge  of  in  early  times,  82 
in  mines,  how  detected,  43,  44 

Gateshead  Iron  Works,  60 

General  conclusions,  with  a  comparison  of  the  differ- 
ent systems  of  mining,  142-147 

General  information  concerning  coal  mines  and  coal 
miners,  with  description  of  long  wall  as  worked  in 
horizontal  seams  of  coal  iu  England  and  in  France, 
9-32 

General  remarks,  81-88 

Germany,  mines  of,  59 

Goaf,  ventilating  a,  73 

Gowen,  Franklin  B.,  169 

Gutters  for  drainage  in  the  bottom  rock,  advantages 
of,  128-131 

Gutters  for  drainage  of  mines,  position  of,  128-132 
in  the  coal,  disadvantage  of,  128-130 

Haswell  Colliery,  47 

Headley's  treatise  on  coal  mining,  27 

"  Headways,"  37 

Hetton  Collieries,  24-28 

gigantic  works  at,  25 
Hewer,  the,  and  his  work,  54-57 
Highly  inclining  coal  beds  of  France,  working,  80 

coal  veins  of  the  United  States,  taking  the 

coal  from,  89-147 
Hoisting  machinery  in  mining,  27 
Hoisting  ropes,  inspection  of,  13 
Horse  roads  in  mines,  35 
Horses,  getting,  into  the  levels  on  trucks  rnn  down  the 

engine  plane,  35 
Button  seam.  Newcastle  coal  field,  33-35 

Improvement  of  mining  in  the  Southern  and  Welsh 

mines,  24-28 
Incline  bank,  Cl 


Inclined  plane  or  engine  bank,  35 

self-acting,  58-62 
Inspecting  mines  daily,  13 

Jud,  drawing  of  a,  67,  68 
Juds,  working  off  the,  67 
Juggler  manway,  113 

Laffak  Colliery,  Lancashire,  Eng.,  fire  at,  162 
Lagging  and  timbering  a  mine,  102 
Lampton  Colliery,  78 
Lancashire  and  Newcastle  coal  fields,  80 
collieries,  improvements  adopted  at,  26 
mining  in,  24 

modification  of  board  and  pillar  system  in,  80 
panel  system  at,  27 
Lard  tier,  Dr.  D..  160 
Lehigh  Valley  Kailway,  169 
Loaders,  110-112 
Long  wall  and  board  and  pillar  systems  of  mining, 

142-147 
Long  wall  mining  in  America,  75 

some  of  the  advantages  of  working  by,  74 
system  of  mining  in  Derbyshire,  60 

in  Staffordshire,  30-32 
system  of  working,  37 
working  coal  by,  in  England,  29 

Mahanoy  basin,  169 

city,  166,  169 

coal  basin,  colliery  in,  166 

coal  region,  89,  90 

creek,  166 

mountain,  166 

coal  strata  of,  90 

planes,  169 

Valley,  114,  168 

Mammoth  coal  vein.  29,  90,  114,  115 
Manway  door,  113 
Man  ways,  113-119 
Marsh  gas,  an  experiment,  17-19 

procuring  for  experimental  purposes,  19 
Master  shifter,  58 

wasteman,  58 

Measurement  of  work  done  by  miners,  128 
Measuring  of  work,  136,  137 
Metal  rigs  and  old  coal  pillars,  7?-80 

driving  through  in  old  excavations,  76 


174 


INDEX. 


Miners  and  their  bosses,  prejudices  of,  19-23 

conversations  with,  90-96 

tools,  106-110 

Mines  should  be  inspected  daily,  13 
Mining  appliances,  the  older,  81 

coal  in  seams  of  less  than  seven  feet,  80 

comparison  of  different  systems  of,  142-147 

importance  of  organizing  the  men  and  dividing 
the  work  in,  144 

in  the  Southern  and  Welsh  mines,  improvements 
of,  24-28 

of  coal,  details  of,  102-112 

out  coal  by  the  board  and  pillar  system,  33-88 
Monkey  gangway,  104 

Needle,  the,  106,  107 

Newcastle  and  Lancashire  coal  fields,  80 

coal  field,  Newcastle,  England,  coal  seams  in,  33 

the  men  and  the  mines  in,  81-88 
early  accidents  in  the  collieries  at,  83 
system  of  organization  of  mining  in,  144 

Northern  Central  Railway,  169 

Officers  of  mines  should  practise  the  art  of  discovering 

the  presence  of  gas  in  air,  13 
Old  coal  pillars,  reworking,  78-80 

mines,  reworking,  78-80 

places,  examination  of  air  in,  12 
"  Onsetter,"  the,  33 

Organization  of  an  improved  English  coal  mine,  27 
Overman,  the,  58-60 

the  duties  of,  58 

the  importance  of,  58 
Overman's  cabin,  81 

tracing,  description  of,  36 

Panel  and  district  workings,  36-41 

of  coal,  time  required  to  work  off,  79 

Panels  of  coal  in  Lancashire  coal  mines,  79 

Parleys  with  miners,  135-141 

Pennsylvania  coal  district,  topographical  features  of 
a,  80 

Pennsylvania,  mammoth  coal  vein  in,  29 
railroad,  169 

Philadelphia  and  Reading  Coal  and  Iron  Co.'s  col- 
lieries, 166-169 

Pick,  108,  109 


Pillars,  115 

and  breast  rooms  of  a  mine,  103,  104 

millions  of  tons  of  coal  wasted  by,  74 

splitting  the,  36,  76 

Prejudices  of  miners  and  their  bosses,  19-23 
Props,  dispensing  with  the  use  of  long,  74 

drawing,  74 

drawing  out  the,  67 

Plans  of  workings,  with  descriptions,  36-41 
Props,  weight  of  the  roof  on  the  jud  coming  on  the, 

67 
"  Putter,"  origin  of  the,  81 

the,  47-53 
Putter's  blackboard,  65 

work,  the,  48 

Railways,  foundation  of,  81 

on  the  surface,  origin  of,  82 

Rail,  wooden,  origin  of,  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field,  81 
Regulating  doors,  12 
Regulator,  the,  and  air  crossing,  63 

the,  in  ventilation,  40,  41 
Remarks  and  comparisons,  73-77 
Remblais  system  of  mining  in  France,  143 

working  out  coal  by,  in  France,  29 
Rents  in  America,  paid  by  the  ton,  74,  75 
Reworking  of  old  mines,  metal  rigs  and  old  coal  pil- 
lars, 78-80 

Rise  side  workings,  36 
Roof,  crushing  of,  in  long  wall  mining,  31 

getting  down  the,  when  the  props  are  all  out,  68 

of  mine,  creeping  down  of,  73,  74 
Ravensworth  Colliery,  78 

Safeguards  against  accidents,  means  to  be  used,  9-13 
Safety  in  mining  by  the  French  system,  143 
lamp-,  82 

use  of  in  the  broken  coal,  69 
Safety  lamps,  attention  to,  13 
Schute,  105,  106 

Schuylkill  County,  Pa.,  coal  formation  in,  89 
Scraper,  the,  107 
Screw  fan,  150 

Self-acting  incline  plane,  58-62 
Shaft  through  English  coal  measures,  33-35 

the  Hutton  coal  seam,  Newcastle,  Eng.,  33 
Shenandoah  Valley,  Pa.,  114 
Sledge,  109 
Smyth,  Warington,  154 


INDEX. 


175 


Spedding'a  application  of  underground  ventilation,  23 

improvements  in  ventilation,  83 
Splitting  the  air,  36 

the  main  current  of  air  in  coal  mining,  39,  41 

the  pillars,  36 
"  Splits,"  12 
Springwell  Colliery,  9.  83 

explosion  at,  9-13 
Squib,  a,  108 
Staffordshire,  coal  mining  by  long  wall  in,  30-32 

England,  the  coal  seams  of,  29 

thick  seam  of  coal,  raining  by  long  wall,  32 
Starter's  battery  and  loading  platform,  104 
Starter,  the,  105 

Tamping  for  a  blast,  108 

Technical  school  of  the  mining  engineer,  84 

Thick  coal  seams,  29-32 

seam  of  Staffordshire,  working,  32 
Timbering  a  mine,  102 

examination  of,  13 

the  manways  in  the  breast-rooms,  113 
Topographical  features  of  a  Pennsylvania  coal  dis- 
trict, 89 

Tracing,  overman's,  description  of,  36 
Tram,  origin  of  the,  81 
Tramway,  origin  of.  81,  82 

used  in  Durham  and  Northumberland,  64 
Trapper,  the,  63 
'•  Trip,"  the,  90 

Tubs  used  in  a  Newcastle  shaft,  33 
•'  Turn,"  the  invention  of,  81 

Underground  fires,  and  methods  of  extinguishing  them, 

162-165 
United  States,  highly  inclining  coal  veins  of,  how  coal 

is  taken  from  the,  89-147 
Upheavals,  98 
Usworth  Colliery,  Durham,  160 

Ventilating  and  working  a  district,  details  of,  42-46 
a  goaf,  73 
by  means  of  a  brattice,  21-23 


Ventilating — 

current,  dividing  the,  12 

fan,  how  it  should  be  constructed  and  arranged, 

and  the  principles  of  its  action,  149-161 
fans,  the  respective  qualities  of,  150 
force,  mechanical,  13 
furnace,  82,  149 
Ventilation,  defective,  135,  136 
details  of,  120 
early  furnaces  for,  83 
in  English  mines,  early,  83 
of  coal  mines  by  splitting  the  main  current  of 

air,  39,  41 

precautions  to  be  taken  in  regard  to,  12 
progress  of  improvement  in,  83 
regulated  by  the  quantity  of  coal  mined,  28 
relation  of,  to  the  amount  of  coal  cut  in  a  given 

time,  145 

AVales,  John,  24-26 

"  Wall's  end"  or  lump  coal,  32 

Washington  Colliery,  78,  83 

Waste  of  coal  in  America,  74,  75 

AVater-course,  102, 128-131 

Wedge,  109 

Weight  of  the  roof  in  the  jnds  coming  on  the  props,  67 

Welsh  collieries,  improved  system  adopted  at,  26 

Westphalia,  Belgium,  and  France,  mines  of,  59 

White  damp,  135 

Winding  in  shaft,  34 

Wood,  Nicholas,  founder  of  the  Northern  Institute  of 

Mining  Engineers,  24 

Working  by  crossing  the  metal  ridges  of  the  old  board 
rooms,  76 

and  ventilating  district,  details  of,  42-46 

levels,  36-41 

out  coal  iu  France,  29 

through  the  metal  rigs,  76 
Workings,  plans  of,  with  descriptions  of.  36-41 
Wyoming  Valley,  Pa.,  mining  in,  143 

Yield  of  a  coal  seam  per  acre,  rule  for,  29 
Yorkshire,  system  of  mining  in.  143 


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